Zac Sarian’s "37 Agri Stories" & Sustainability Of PH Farms & Gardens

For 60 years, Zac Sarian chose to write about individuals, and husbands-&-wives, first as absent-mindedly failing, and then business-mindedly succeeding, in PH agriculture.

He died Monday, 07 December 2020 in Manila, but he has journalled at least a thousand aggie success stories that Zac Sarian will live forever!

To honor Zac Sarian, we have to take off where he left off – we have to help beyond the individuals, beyond the couples – we have to help the village not only succeed but perpetuate itself in richness.
(Repeatability image[1] from Environmentalleader.com)

We are talking here of sustainability. Isn’t it a sin against Sociology if in Economics we nurture the successful individuals or married couples but not the whole village? It certainly is a Crime Against Humanity.

We must pursue Sustainability, not simply Success.

So now, if Zac Sarian were for entrepreneurial success of individuals, we must now go for sustained entrepreneurial success of whole villages – residents enriching themselves in agriculture & fishery repeatedly! People cannot lead sustainable lives for long if their village is not sustainable for long.

Your farming system must be sustainable in kind – and repeatable in time.

Let us take the rice farmers: For model sustainability, their farming must have these characteristics, all 5, not simply 3 or 4:

(1) Technically feasible: Does your technology work as claimed by the source? How much mastery do you need to make it work for your good?

(2)  Economically viable: Is the technology cost-effective? Then, you are a winner, not a loser.

(3) Environmentally sound: Whatever you do, it must not be at the expense of the environment. Like, no pesticides, no weedicides, no soil erosion. There should be no burning of crop waste – they can be turned into organic fertilizer.

(4) Socially acceptable: You cannot make money by taking advantage of other people’s ignorance – or not rewarding them properly for their contribution, directly or indirectly, to your endeavors.

(5) Sociologically helpful: After all is said and done, when you sell your harvest, do your net returns enable you to climb up the ladder of prosperity and properly ascend in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

Yvette Natalie Tan refers to him as “Father of Agriculture Journalism” in the Philippines (07 December 2020, “Zac Sarian, Former Manila Bulletin Agriculture Editor And Father Of Agriculture Journalism, Passes Away At 83[2],” MB.com.ph). Ms Yvette is correct.
(cover image[3] from Tribune.net.ph)

Thank you Zac, and goodbye.

What we desperately need now are stories that encourage interlinked successes of farmer associations, farm clusters, and cooperatives in the villages.

Aggie journalism must now work out of “The New Thinking for Agriculture” that is espoused by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar and is fed from what he calls “8 Paradigms” – Modernization, Industrialization, Promotion Of Exports, Consolidation Of Small- And Medium-Sized Farms, Infrastructure Development, Higher Budget & Investment, Legislative Support, and Roadmap Development.

Writing for the New PH Agriculture is not easy, is it? You need sustainability – just as farmers need sustainability. That’s why we need journalists steadfast on sustainability!@517

 

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[1]https://www.environmentalleader.com/2020/02/5-ways-businesses-can-exercise-sustainability-practices/

[2]https://mb.com.ph/2020/12/07/zac-sarian-former-manila-bulletin-agriculture-editor-and-father-of-agriculture-journalism-passes-away-at-83/?fbclid=IwAR2V6A1iRtiR93adZNg95oGb8ddjylvWJqN7RXauaKIVx-f1KZ7YNhybkqU

[3]https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/12/07/agri-journalist-zac-sarian-writes-30/?fbclid=IwAR3cIkCiFnzk43CuFXSm6uRib6H9osEDYqe9CEINYM10BWZY_c963okUp7k