Healthy Farms for Healthy Foods

“Let Leni Lead,” Leni Robredo’s supporters would say. “Let The Mind Lead” I would say. Theirs is The Pink Revolution . An agriculturist and a communicator for village development, I find more meaning in The Think Revolution that involves millions of farmers. This Revolution has very few people paying attention to and supporting it. That explains the images above: blue heads communicating from Dreamstime.com , aggie-related scenes in a single Windows 10 accidental collage the photograph of which I took from my external 20-in ViewSonic monitor. And why did I superimpose a profile of Mr Dar right in the middle of the composite image? Because he is the Thinker of The Think Revolution! The truth is, some 2 months before he was appointed Secretary, on Monday, 03 Jun 2019, in his Manila Times column, Mr Dar came out with his “The ‘New Thinking’ For Agriculture” ( manilatimes.net ), where he said: I can affirm we can double the income of farmers and fisherfolk in three years, also taki

Happily : From my observation since 2019, PH Agriculture is looking good – we are looking at the sunrise of farming – despite Covid-19 etc. Unhappily : At the same time, we are looking at the private media’s overall journalism that is hardly dedicated to prosperity in the lives of Filipino farm families. And no presidential or senatorial candidate is talking about agriculture, the #1 industry in the Philippines. On Facebook today, Saturday, 28 February 2022, Maris Diokno is un/happily sharing her father Jose W Diokno’ s legacies of Human Rights and Nationalism – “Remembering Dad” – saying, with I noting Maris’ brother Chel Diokno is running for the office of Senator : The victory we aspire for in May 2022 is not about ourselves but about causes way beyond us: justice and equity and dignity as human beings and as a people – in Dad’s words, “a nation full of hope and full of joy, full of life and full of love.” Happily, as a journalist and an agriculturist (UP '65), instantl

Philippines: With what do you defeat an enemy like the dreaded Asian Swine Fever (ASF) that at its worst eliminated 1.7 million pigs? With foreign advices and local advances, an abundance of allotments included. Ask for help; help yourself. (swine image from eCompareMo, ecomparemo.com ) Advice : Christine Cudis says ( 25 Jan 2022, “PH Cites Int’l Partners’ Help In Dealing With ASF,” PNA.gov.ph ): As it seeks to completely eradicate African swine fever (ASF), the Department of Agriculture (DA) (via its) Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said mentorship from international groups helped strengthen their programs. BAI Director Reildrin Morales said groups such as the World Organization for Animal Health, Food & Agriculture Organization , and agencies under the Canadian and Spanish governments (have been) helpful in (consultations) on how to effectively end ASF. Lessons learned, the DA has launched Bantay ASF sa Barangay (BABay ASF) and the Integrated National Swine Production Initi

Filipinos on Facebook keep talking about the coming May elections, especially the next President of the Philippines. They hardly talk about Climate Change that have spawned violent storms causing many deaths and much destruction in the country. Being ignored is Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si” (“Praise Be To You, My Lord”) for Catholics to act vs Climate Change. Much more Catholic than Americans, where is “The Francis Effect” among Filipinos?! Meanwhile, for effect, this Francis will keep on writing about Primate Change for Climate Change – especially about how farmers can save much money in farming, and grow more healthy foods and earn more, at the same time Stop Climate Change! The graph above shows Agriculture contributing only 10% of total greenhouse gases (GHGs). Numbers misleading, to say the least. That 10% should be 40% or more because chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides are produced and handled from start to finish of 84% total GHGs: Transportation 29%, Electri

Saturday, 05 Feb 2022, Philippine Inquirer came out with the editorial “The Bishops’ Bold Move” while there was no news on such concern from any other religious group. And from “higher educational institutions” (HEIs)? No news from HEIs either! (images: “Bishop pulling the plug” from Inquirer.net , ”Laudato Si” from ICN, indicatholicnews.com , “Philippines” from Shutterstock.com ) And, as far as I know, I am the only journalist in the world who has called for the complete cessation of Chemical Agriculture and institutional initiation of Organic Agriculture by my country. Actually, I did that almost 6 years ago yet! (Read my essay, “BIAG Economics: Brand-New Intellectualization of Agriculture,” 14 April 2016, Primate Change , Blogspot.com . The Bishops are not talking about the Science of Climate Change – rather, they are talking about the Conscience of Climate Change. Just last week… the plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) adopted a st

In the Philippines, we have been under Covid19 lockdown starting February 2020 for 2 years, 730 days. A Facebook hound, I see the restrictions have not encouraged educators to travel the Information Superhighway to move the farmers in the manner of Pilgrims’ Progress . Congratulations to Central Luzon State University (CLSU) – of all the state colleges & universities (SCUs), you are #1! But first, we have to teach the teachers. As an educator (BSA Ag Edu UP '65, Civil Service Professional 1964), a self-appointed warrior writer for agriculture, and an indefatigable blogger, I notice that our SCUs, including my alma mater UP Los Baños, have yet to come out with 100% Internet-based courses and/or educational modules for farmers. SCUs have been on an informational intellectual isolation ! I am excited the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and CLSU have come up with an Internet-initiated instructional program: “eFARM.” Merlina Hernando-Malipot says (“CHEd, Central Luzon St

Since 16 April 1975, the first day I worked for the Forest Research Institute and on to become founder & Editor in Chief of its 3 major publications – monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine Habitat – in the last 47 years up to 11 days ago as I write this, 10 Feb 2022, I have been simultaneously creative & critical; that is, if I disagreed with you, I would point out your error in logic – that wasn’t very nice, was it? What took me so long?! How creative-critical has Frank A Hilario been? In the Dec 1980 issue of Habitat, I came up with an original theoretical paper titled “Development, The Eternal Spiral Staircase” (16 pages, 93-108), with which I presented a new theory I called Communication for Development (ComDev). Though I did not directly state it, this was clearly in opposition to the prevailing Development Communication (DevCom) paradigm of the UP College of Agriculture (now UP Los Baños ) – obvious in the acr

Healthy foods come from healthy soils and healthy fertilizers from healthy hands – even the cities & communities around should be able to grow healthy crops for themselves. For such a public purpose, led by Agriculture Secretary William Dar , the PH Department of Agriculture (DA) has partnered with the private sector. Jed Macapagal says on Wednesday, 16 Feb 2022, the Urban Farmers Sustainability Concepts Organization , Urban Greens, and International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) signed each with the DA a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) “to scale up the implementation of the Urban and (Peri-Urban) Agriculture Program in the country” (18 Feb 2022, “DA, 3 Firms Promote Urban Farming,” Malaya, malayaph.com ). The news report does not state it, but after reading about the 3 DA partners in grime, I say: The urban farms & gardens agreed upon are going to use 100% organic growing methods to cultivate crops. You cannot get healthier foods than that! Mr Macapagal says:

In the Philippines, are the young voters minding intelligently how to vote in the presidential May elections? How are they choosing their President? In the Facebook post of 19 Feb 2022 ( Ann Gatmaytan sharing ) , Alberto A Ramirez says: The young, whose future will be most affected by this coming May’s presidential elections, will greatly affect the result of these elections with their votes. Some 32 million registered voters are in the age group of 18-40 years old, classified as the youth vote, which represent about half of the more than 65 million Filipino voters registered. This is why they have to be able to elect the right leaders for their country for that future to have any chance of becoming bright. There’s hope for the Philippines from the young after all! If you are senior or adult, you probably already have a presidential candidate you have chosen to vote for – so let’s worry about the youth, who make up half of the voting population. Let us help them make a wise choice

If Bongbong Marcos (BBM) wants to become President this May, my advice is for him to publicize support of " Zero-Based Agriculture" – endearing him to at least 7 million more voters from farming families! (“From Zero to Hero” image from MyFonts , myfonts.com ) Ma Reina Leanne Tolentino says, “Think Tank Sees Big Win For BBM” (17 Feb 2022, Manila Times , manilatimes.net ). With survey results, Stratbase ADR Institute President Dindo Manhit says BBM could win by either landslide or 30%. To ensure  victory, for BBM to go from Zero to Hero , my proposal is based on hard, visible evidence – for BBM to embrace what I call “ Zero-Based Farming ,” which is Organic, which begins with making organic fertilizer at near-zero expense – to astound & attract thrift-seeking voters of at least 7 million more! With BBM’s support, we will establish twin demonstration plots at PhilRice headquarters in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija: Plot 1 chemical fertilizer, Plot 2 organic fertilizer, from weeds

I'm reading about the World Bank lending to our Philippines “another $400M” for Covid-19 and I’m thinking, “World Bank, thank you.” More! Ben O De Vera says (“PH Borrowing Another $400M From World Bank For Covid-19 Recovery,” 29 Jan 2022, Business.inquirer.net ): The World Bank will lend the Philippines $400 million to pursue “policy reforms” for sustainable recovery from the health and socioeconomic ills inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Documents on Friday showed the forthcoming development policy loan (DPL), a form of budgetary support financed by the World Bank for borrowers’ reform agenda, would be approved by the Washington-based lender during its fiscal year 2023, which technically starts in the middle of this year. The World Bank must have much confidence in my country the Philippines because, as Mr De Vera lists them, there are 11 World Bank DPLs already upcoming: $600M 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program); $250M Mindanao transport connectivity improvement proje

With wide-ranging public corruption and widespread private poverty, my country the Philippines should now forsake Sustainable Development and pursue Regenerative Development nationwide! (image of lady with vibrant seedling growing on rich earth from Producers Market , Producersmarket.com ) Ms Leni must save her country from itself! Here is 16-time Palanca Awards winner Jose Dalisay with a poem of encouragement for Ms Leni in the form of a tribute to her husband Jesse Robredo who was a shining exemplar in public service, who served handsomely his country from being Mayor of Naga City to Secretary of Interior & Local Government under President Noynoy Aquino. Mr Robredo died in the crash of a light airplane in 2012. So, Mr Dalisay’s poem is both a tribute to Jesse and Leni (poem & picture from a Valentine’s Day Facebook sharing by Milwida Sevilla-Reyes ). The original title of the poem was “Jesse’s Poem” but which I thought was uninspired and uninspiring; so, following literary

To continue my new series of Happy Agriculture that is dedicated to solving 3 problems in 1 – Farmer Poverty, Bad Health , and Climate Change – today I have a complete picture that I will call “ Triple A Agriculture :” A 1 , Organic Agriculture A 2 , Regenerative Organic Agriculture A 3 , Weeds-Enriched Automatic  Layout Triggering Terrestrial Health (WEALth) A 1 , Organic Agriculture (OA) For health reasons, OA is the most popular process of growing crops with/without livestock. You can prepare your soil enricher such as the fermented plant juice (FPJ). You can also produce organic fertilizer such as vermicast, using earthworms. You can also use indigenous microorganisms (IMO) in coming up with your organic fertilizer. FPJ, vermicast & IMO, you can all make them yourself. A 2 , Regenerative Organic Agriculture (ROA) Sustainable Development is no longer enough for me – it supports agriculture that produces greenhouse gases (GHGs). ROA produces healthy foods and zero unheal

Vision is what those 5 frontrunning PH Presidentiables are not talking about, except somewhat Leni Robredo with her insistent shout – “Gobyernong Tapat, Angat Buhay Lahat” (Faithful Government, Fruitful Lives For All, my translation) – and that means somehow I will vote for her! The national Vision is important – “Where there is no Vision, the people perish” ( Proverbs 29:18). “Vision is the desired future” says Bright Future (“Aligning The Vision,” Brightfutureusa.org ). I say: “Vision is the exciting future!” I’m looking at farmer loans as the device for that exhilarating future. Catherine Talavera has the latest pertinent news (13 Feb 2022, “DA Releases P5.4 Billion Agri Loans In 2021,” PhilStar Global , PhilStar.com ): The Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Credit Policy Council (DA-ACPC) released over P 5.39 billion worth of loans to agricultural stakeholders last year, in line with its mandate of promoting effective and sustainable delivery of financial services to th