In 2009, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, called the attention of the whole world by highlighting its international work on food security and diversification. (image above part of the cover of the annual report, 60 pages 8.5” x 11” trim size)
And why, you ask, am I pointing out an international center thousands of kilometers away? For the not-so-simple reason that the Director General of ICRISAT at that time is now the PH Secretary of Agriculture, none other than William Dar/Manong Willie. He was ICRISAT DG for 15 years, from January 2000 to December 2014, and being Team Captain, he brought ICRISAT from dead last to first among the 15 international research centers in agriculture that belong to the CGIAR Group, including IRRI. That took not only courage but faith in God, in the human species, strength in teamwork – and the great appeal of Vision.
The ICRISAT Vision was simple and yet profound:
Science with a human face.
Science with a human face.
Not, mind you, Science with a human farce – people using science pretending to serve the people while serving their own selfish interests first and foremost. “Food security and diversification in the drylands” – says the title of the report. Food security is for villages, not simply farmers or families; diversification must be in crops, in the environment, even as it is in peoples. If crop diversification is good for india which has 550 tribes[1]; the Philippines has 170 languages and therefore, that many tribes, and therefore that many diversities in tongues and traits – which we must all satisfy if we are to grow as a strong country.
Food security – notfood sufficiency – is the herculean goal of the new PH under Manong Willie. We do not have to produce every bite of food we need; we just have to produce what we do best so that we can afford to buy what we need and do not produce.
ICRISAT’s mission, according to the Annual Report, is “To reduce poverty, enhance food and nutritional security, and protect the environment of the semi-arid tropics by empowering the poor through partnership-based science with a human face.”
Learning from ICRISAT, in agriculture, to reduce poverty, to reduce food insufficiency, to reduce nutritional insecurity, to reduce environmental degradation – we must empower the poor farmers to help them help themselves. And how do we do that? Via partnerships in science and technology. Public, private, philantrophic, peasant partnerships – the peasants must be doers for their own good, not just seekers of pity and denanders of patronage.
Nigel Poole, Chair of the ICRISAT Board, says in his message, “I am very proud of the fact that ICRISAT has pursued strategic partnerships to both develop agricultural solutions and to disseminate its knowledge and findings.” Uniquely and importantly, he urges other research bodies: “Research institutes must always be looking for ways of doing things better.”
Now outside ICRISAT, former DG Manong Willie I am sure will always be looking for ways of doing things better for PH Agriculture!@517
No comments:
Post a Comment