Science Is On The Top Of A UPLB Professor’s Mind. So, It Asks: “Is The Continued Quarantine Justified?”

Belated “Happy Birthday,” Mr President! (28 March 2021). Sorry to spoil your birthday, but the World Bank has spoken: “PHL Reliance On Prolonged Lockdowns Caused Economic Deterioration – WB[1]” (Louise Maureen Simeon, 27 March 2021, The Philippine Star). Carolina Figueroa-Geron, who shared that on Facebook; I read somewhere someone's wishes, “May our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten our darkness! God bless us!”

Miss Louise quotes the World Bank as saying:

The Philippines relied more on prolonged restrictions on mobility rather than an effective test-based strategy. Countries with greater quarterly growth contraction in 2020 had higher infection rates, imposed more stringent mobility restrictions, had more highly indebted governments and were more dependent on earnings from tourism.

Because of mass testing, mobility restrictions were not as severe, resulting in gross domestic product growth for Vietnam (2.9 percent), China (2.3 percent) and Laos (0.4 percent) in 2020. Cambodia’s GDP also contracted, but only by 3.1 percent, and Malaysia by 5.6 percent. The Philippine economy, on the other hand, shrank 9.5 percent, its worst in several decades and the sharpest drop in the region.

Yet, as a science writer, I am more interested in logic than statistics, so I leave the World Bank news to you, and I concentrate on what retired UPLB chemistry professor Carlito “Charlie” Barril (inset image above) says on Facebook on the lockdown. A UPLB alumnus, I agree with him.

Mr Barril says, “DoH data show there is actually no Covid pandemic in RP,” giving 5 proofs (facts), which I edit a little:

Fact #1. DoH data show that more than 98% of reported cases were non-Covid, being mild and asymptomatic. The remaining 2%? Mostly pneumonia, influenza, asthma, etc.

Fact #2. Every Sunday, a big number of recoveries is reported from the ranks of mild and asymptomatic. Today, 28 March 2021, DoH reported total recoveries of 22,000. The highest total recoveries of 40,392 was reported 16 August 2020.

Fact #3. After one year, the number of deaths reported is just 13,170. Even if all these deaths were attributed to Covid, THIS IS VERY LOW compared to the annual deaths of more than 60,000 (2016 data) for flu and pneumonia. Yet we do not lockdown the people due to these diseases.

Fact #4. Total number for RP of 5,705 cases/M is way below the level considered epidemic or pandemic. RP is just 6.3% of that of the USA with 90,853 cases/M. If the mild and asymptomatic cases were removed, the value for RP becomes even lower at 0.13% of that of the USA. This comparison becomes even more significant considering that RP’s population density is much higher than that of the USA.

Fact #5. Another indicator that the Covid situation in RP is just hysteria is the percentage of recovery, which is as high as 93% for RP compared to 64% for the USA and 70% for the world.

Based on the above facts, it is clear that there is actually no Covid pandemic in RP and the continued quarantine is therefore not justified!@517

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[1]https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/03/27/2087356/philippines-reliance-prolonged-lockdowns-caused-economic-deterioration-wb

Village Heroes – The Need For PH Journalism To Actively Support Agriculture

 

Bayanihan – The above image shows the earliest national heroes of the Philippines. Today, I’m calling on village heroes in communication for development, journalists out to move people to change the lives in the villages one good deed at a time! People working together to help their community, not just themselves. 
(Bayanihan image[1] from Nationalnews.com)

Why don’t we have in the Philippines digital and print media field journalists & columnists all-out supporting the small-scale and large-scale efforts of government to solve the problems of Agriculture and move it forward to bring favorable & sustainable changes to the lives of farmers and fishers, without exacting irreparable damage to the environment?

I am not going to identify the journalists who write nothing but to try to prove that some government officials are lying, or worse. With your journalism dedicated 100% to anti-bad government, you have nothing left for pro-good government. Not only that – you equate all government actions as against the interests of the people!

Since I am an agriculturist, teacher and blogger, I will concentrate on the journalism that is good for the farmers and fishers as seen in the plans, programs and projects of the Department of Agriculture (DA):

Lacking!

Why is there no thinking journalism on the “New Thinking for Agriculture” that Secretary of Agriculture William Dar proclaimed on Day One, 05 August 2020, when PRRD appointed him? Why no follow-up journalism on any one or combination of the “8 Paradigms” that accompanied the New Thinking?

(1) Modernization;
(2) Industrialization;
(3) Promotion of Exports;
(4) Consolidation of Small- And Medium-Sized Farms;
(5) Infrastructure Development;
(6) Higher Budget & Investment;
(7) Legislative Support; and
(8) Roadmap Development.

Subsequently, why is there no journalism on the “OneDA 12 Key Strategies Transforming Philippine Agriculture”? (See my essay in my blog: “PH Secretary Of Agriculture Minding Facebook, Maximizing His Media Of Exposure[2]” 03 March 2021, Asa Ka Pa!.)

Philippine journalism needs a revolution today!

Ramon R Tuazon says (ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca):

The post-war era to pre-martial law period (1945-1972) is called the Golden Age of Philippine journalism. The Philippine press began to be known as “the freest in Asia.”

Press freedom does not yet promote positive communication for development!

PH journalism has not graduated from that which the Americans brought to Philippine shores. ANN says (Author Not Named, 23 May 2015, Philippine Press History): “Founded in 1964, the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) was organized “to foster the development and improvement of journalism in the country.” Towards this objective, the PPI published in 1965 “Law Of The Press: A PPI Manual,” and in 1967 “Clear Effective Writing: A PPI Manual.”

Development of journalism, not country. Nothing said about whether journalism was for helping the government pursue programs and projects for the good of the people.

So, what the editors thought were good for the paper was good enough. Let the people be damned!?

What we desperately need is journalism campaigning for Bayanihan moving a while village, town, or province in terms of improving lives, improving sustainability of villages and villagers!@517

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[1]https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/filipino-artists-from-ugnayang-sining-tomasino-art-collective-have-work-displayed-in-uae-1.102874

[2]https://asakaparin.blogspot.com/2021/03/ph-secretary-of-agriculture-minding.html

Berly Fernandez-Tatoy – Wizard Of Community Science, Filipino

Berly Fernandez-Tatoy deserves to be declared a National Scientist, that is my opinion. Here is Ms Berly’s remarkable story, shared by Mayang Davide on Facebook, as a multi-researcher of the Department of Agriculture (DA) Region 10 (North Mindanao), dedicating her professional life to reinventing science as a servant of the farmers, by the farmers, for the farmers.

Searching for answers and solutions to the challenges that plague particularly small Filipino farmers, uncommon Ms Berly has produced outstanding results in 4 collective areas of investigative agriculture with the community as partners in research, in what is called Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CPAR):

(1)   Vegetables:9 community-proven organic pesticides & fertilizers for 7 vegetables

(2)   Rice: 4 Next Generation rice lines identified with community

(3)   Potato:Community production of disease-free Granola potato seeds

(4)   Coconut-Based Farming: Community growing of coconut-based vegetables with goat.

Vegetables:
Via CPAR, Ms Berly has taught communities the production of organic pesticides and fertilizers. She has encouraged diversified cropping with cabbage, carrots, eggplant, pole sitao, cucumber, tomato & sweet pepper. She has promoted community gardens in partnerships with high schools in Northern Mindanao and DA’s Farmer Field Schools.

Rice:
Also via CPAR, Ms Berly has produced NextGen rice varieties, 4 identified by community as outstanding: NSIC RC 216, NSIC RC 238, NSIC RC 300, NSIC RC 308 for lowland irrigated and adverse rice ecosystems: rainfed and saline conditions. They are now PhilRice-recommended.

Potato:
In North Mindanao, the seed-borne disease bacterial wilt used to restrict potato to an average yield of 7.5 tons/ha. Under the concept of CPAR, Ms Berly studied the behavior of the market-driven potato variety Granola at the community level, and came up with the “Seed Plot Technique.” This seed system used available local resources like bamboo, used sacks combined with bio-fumigation technology (sunflower) to defeat the bacterial enemy. This system has eliminated farmer dependence on imported seed pieces. Bacterial infection is now down to zero, and average yield has increased more than 3 times, to 25 tons/ha. From the Bureau of Agricultural Research, this CPAR group of farmers has received several awards, being among the best CPAR organizations not only in Northern Mindanao but also in the country.

Ms Betty has also encouraged community production of food products: potato chips, pastries, and polvoron (short bread). All of the above has led to the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the potato industry in Northern Mindanao.

Coconut-Based Farming
Again, via CPAR, Ms Berly has promoted the growing of vegetables, as well as the raising of goats, under the coconut trees. Vegetables with coconuts have greatly multiplied farmer income, increasing from P39,000 with coconut monocropping to P236,000 with goat integration, a six-fold increase! This can be seen indirectly in very noticeable improved living conditions of the farmers.

Today, the CPAR farmers’ organization is among active producers and distributors of vegetables, providing the produce to local markets in nearby Balingasag town and also the Agora market in Cagayan de Oro City.

That is all what then-ICRISAT Director General William Dar described in 5 words: “Science with a human face.”@517

Maria Ressa’s Choice: Journalism For Development, Or Degradement?

Today, PH journalism is symbolized by Maria Ressa (inset), Head of the digital media group Rappler, Maria Ressa is so bold – and repeatedly so – against her President and mine, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, that she has landed on the universal hit list Time 100 Most Influential People, 2019[1]. Well? As a digital journalist myself, for as long as her 20 years, I envy her for the honor – but, I must say, hers is not my kind of journalism.

I subscribe to Development Journalism; perhaps hers is Degradement Journalism, where to “degrade” is “to lower in quality or value; make inferior or less valuable[2]” (American Heritage Dictionary). To simplify, Maria Ressa is anti-Duterte, while I am pro-détente; she ignores National Development, while I am all eyes and ears for it.

I say: Implemented, the War on Drugs is Sectoral; UN-implemented, the War on Poverty is National.

Years earlier, Vice President Leni Robredo pleaded with Mr Duterte: “Mr President… we ask you to focus on the war that really matters: the War on Poverty. Our people are hungry, jobless and poor” (Facebook, 24 February 2017).

We are focusing on the War on Drugs. On journalism focusing on the War on Poverty, UNESCO itself is ignoring it!

The bigger image above is from the cover of the 2018 UNESCO book titled Getting The Message Across and subtitled Reporting On Climate Change And Sustainable Development In Asia And The Pacific: A Handbook For Journalists (106 pages)[3].

Now, both Philippine Maria Ressa and the UNESCO book disappoint me for missing out on development that includes the poor.

The UNESCO book is all about climate change – nothing about changing the climate of poverty among the poor peoples of the world! All about developing the news, nothing about developing people subject to climate change.

On page 17 of the book, it states very promisingly:

Sustainable Development Goals – No One Left Behind

Heads of State, Government leaders, UN High Level Representatives and civil society met in September 2015 at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals… These 17 Goals represent a universal, ambitious, sustainable development agenda, an agenda of the people, by the people and for the people. At its core, is a pledge to leave no one behind. “Underpinning the renewed focus on inclusion and social justice is the realization that the benefits of social and economic progress have not been equitably shared.”   

But that is the closest that the UNESCO book comes to Development Journalism. On page 72, it lists “Ten Quick Tips For Better Stories,” and these are:

1. Know your audience.
2. Team up.
3. Localize the jargon.
4. Be visual.
5. Get a second opinion
6. Quote varied voices.
7. Get reactions.
8. Humanize, Humanize, Humanize.
9. Do justice to press releases.
10. Tell success stories.

UNESCO, where is the Journalism for Development there? Your climate change story is only about changing the physical climate and not the social climate of poverty; that is not Development Journalism at all!@517

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[1]https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019/

[2]https://www.thefreedictionary.com/degrade

[3]https://en.unesco.org/getting-the-message-across

Calling For Revolutionary Education In Teenage PH/World – Artificial Intelligence (AI) Vs Authentic Intelligence (AI2)

Anywhere in the world as far as teenage education is concerned, from the wide fields of Agriculture to the vast territories of World Literature, what “Abot Tala Self-Directed Learning Center for Teens” (Abot Tala) in PH is doing in terms of teaching teenagers from 12-18, is a good start!

Months before the pandemic lockdown, I was talking with Joie Villarama, innovative owner of Abot Tala, about introducing Internet-based learning via school-based laptops to her teenager learners, donations considered. Today, she has students working & studying at the same time at home: above, boy with laptop & girl with cellphone (images[1] from Abot Tala Facebook page). Domestic activity, domestic tranquility!

Teaching teenagers, Abot Tala is now showing us educators what we can do with our hands tied and classrooms closed by over-zealous government regulators.

Next, Abot Tala must step up more boldly and graduate from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to what I call Authentic Intelligence (AI²). AI is mechanical, machine-generated; while AI² is mental, learner mind-generated.

Am I saying Authentic Intelligence versus Artificial Intelligence? No. AI is Man motioning Machine for the mechanical transfer of knowledge; AI² is Man (Mind) learning via Machine (Menu) out of the knowledge available via AI. Teaching via AI alone is teaching memorizing, not understanding. (Definitions from American Heritage Dictionary: Authentic: “Conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief[2]” Artificial: not natural, imitative.) Understanding relationships is learning; Mere transfer of knowledge even via intellectual muscle is not learning!

Today, at Abot Tala, the process of presenting learning materials is intelligent (AI), but the procedure of teaching learning is not yetAI². The unseen problem is that Abot Tala teachers are teaching mechanical repetition, not teaching thinking.

Yes! Abot Tala’s “Self-Directed Learning” must be via thinking, not simply taking in. The school’s “Interest-Led Learning” must be carried out with the schooler learning thinking anywhere from A to Z: analyzing, comparing, deducing, dividing, matching, or synchronizing whatever. The Abot Tala teacher should allow individual differences and not force the students to learn exactly the same things the same way!

I love it that Abot Tala says about its “Summer Block” 22 March to 21 May, 2021:

This program is ideal for teens who are looking for a community that encourages Interest-Led Learning. We welcome teen homeschoolers, unschoolers, and those who are taking a break or gap year, especially during this global pandemic.

Abot Tala says further:

We’ve set up a virtual Abot Tala teen center on Slack. Think of it as a teen hub where teens get to hang out to chat, share music, art, book and video finds, and more through the different non-class channels where they can talk to the teens and mentors in our community anytime they want to.

I am a teacher by profession, PH Civil Service Professional Level –by choice & self-study an indefatigable blogger for digital education. This Teacher now says, “Ma’am Joei Villarama, that arrangement of the virtual Tala Teen Center at Slack is (almost) the way to go!”@517

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/AbotTalaPH/photos/2796331337276011
[2]https://www.thefreedictionary.com/authentic

Choose Right: Fight, Flight, Or Fright? How To Conquer Your Fear

Humor can save your sanity yet! Certainly, the continuing un/cultivated scare about the coronavirus complicated with the lockdown, has been causing people either to choose to fight, take flight, or cower in fright.

Many years ago, not yet married, probably 1965, I almost lost my mind! I had been kicked out of UP Los Baños (Extreme Delinquent), was silently but publicly insulted, resulting in my breaking off with my girlfriend – family pride destroyed, personal pride shattered.

Fortunately, there was a psychiatrist of sort in town, Asingan in Pangasinan, and he saved me from the jaws of mental death. Literally. But I was still mentally disturbed and had difficulty sleeping at night – until I read in a book of psychology, being a wide reader, that I had to “confront my fear.”

That was 36 years before the Internet came to the Philippines. Today, you can read many books and/or articles about the many ways of how to “Confront Your Fear.” I will mention one source here, but I want to tell you right now that I have kept my sanity because I am a creative person. I cannot run out of topics to write about, or I do not have to repeat my formula for writing because I am an original aboriginal – Ilocano. A quote from British wit Oscar Wilde is a great help to me in my inventiveness:

Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll.
The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist sees the hole!
(Doughnut & quote image[1] from Donut Magic)

If you see humor, you’re all right!

You are also okay if you are an optimist:
You can see Opportunity where others see Obstruction.
You can see Option where others see Obstacles.
You can see Donuts where others see only Holes!

Now: What do you do when you cannot be an optimist? Listen to what a friend told Damisok (28 October 2016, “How To Confront Your Fears (Explained)[2],” BTS Media Blog):

You need to look deep within yourself and separate yourself from your other self. Only then will your true self reveal itself.

The Worrier You versus the Better You. Damisok says:

Fear is not a sign of abnormality or weakness… Fear is a healthy feeling. It is the brain’s reaction when overwhelmed by an unpleasant situation. Being fearless is basically leveraging fear. It is knowing how to manage fear so it doesn’t overwhelm you.

Damisok advises you:

#10. Get a mentor or a life coach.
#09. Read a book.
#08. Watch an inspirational movie.
#07. Tell yourself a story.
#06. Talk about it to someone.
#05. Change your thinking – eliminate the negatives.
#04. Write it down.
#03. Speak positive words out aloud to yourself.
#02. Show some gratitude.
#01. Go out and do something. The more you do something, the better you become at it and the more confidence you gain.

My single advice is: Do something good for others. That has been my advice to myself in the last 45 years: I write good for others.@517

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[1]https://www.facebook.com/Donutmagic/photos/

[2]https://btsmediablog.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/how-to-confront-your-fears-explained/

UPLB, Where Has All Your Extension Gone? Gone To Flowers Everyone! When Will They Ever Learn?

What do you mean “Extension”? Here is “Dean Umali’s Rule” as his colleagues remember it[1]: “When a farmer visits your office, stop everything you are doing and give him his due attention, for he is the primary commitment of your being in this institution.”

What is known as “UPCA’s Golden Age of Extension” is 1959 to 1969, when Dioscoro L Umali was Dean of UPCA – that is according to Louise Sigrid Antonio et al writing 25 May 2014, “Dioscoro L Umali,” in their blog The Heat Ray Of Archimedes). I was Freshman at UPCA when he became Dean in 1959; later, I remember UPCA agronomists really busy with national extension projects involving rice and corn. (top image[2] from Philippine Science Heritage Center, Facebook)

On 20 November 1972, through Presidential Decree 58, the UP System was created, with UPLB as one of the universities in the system. Unfortunately, while the college UPCA grew intothe university UP Los Baños, the Extension function grew out of the university until it disappeared! (education-research-extension image[3] from FAO.org)

Never out of contact with the university over the years, I believe such disappearance was not by design but by the absence of an extension leader like Dean Umali.

From the OVCRE webpage[4], even as I remember it as an UPCA student 1959-1964 (I stopped for 1 year), UPCA/UPLB has a tripartite function: Instruction, Research, and Extension. To quote:

Though instruction was considered as UPLB’s major function, research was also recognized as an equally important function. Extension… was viewed as a function that showed UPLB’s relevance in the development of the countryside. Knowledge gained through research, imparting it through instruction, and applying it as public service are all efforts, directed towards the development of the whole man.

Yes, “Extension” is still mentioned, such as in the above – but there is not one Extension project extant!

Oh, I just found that there is an office called “Office of Extension Coordination” – but it is under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs! That explains why Extension is no longer given equal emphasis as Instruction (Academic Affairs) and Research (Research & Development).

On the website https://uplb.edu.ph/, the tabs that show are:

[Home] [About] [Admission] [Academics] [Research] [On Campus] [Downloads]

Do you notice what is missing in that UPLB list? It is missing because it is hardly/not performing that function when it should! [Extension]. The 3 functions of UP Los Baños, or any of the constituent universities of the UP System are: Instruction, Research, and Extension.

Everyone connected any which way with the University of the Philippines Los Baños has forgotten the university’s role in Extension. Let me repeat here Dean Umali’s Rule:

When a farmer visits your office, stop everything you are doing and give him his due attention, for he is the primary commitment of your being in this institution.

UPLB, sorry to say this, but in forgetting to do your Extension, you are forgetting the farmer who is your ultimate student!@517

 

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[1]http://archimedesheatray.blogspot.com/2014/05/group-5-dioscoro-umali.html

[2]https://www.facebook.com/pshc2013/photos/a.366129906791602/2814422555295646/?type=3

[3]http://www.fao.org/3/y2709e/y2709e05.htm

[4]https://ovcre.uplb.edu.ph/about/r-e-uplb/three-fold-function

UPLB Wants To Future-Proof Itself, But Has So Far Ignored That Magic Wand!

Today, is UP Los Baños Aware of the Digital Universe? Aware, but not Adept. UPLB is a century old – so, I am not surprised that as far as I can determine, it has largely ignored the modern wonders of the computer world.

Starting as University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (UPCA), the first classes, without walls, were held on a promontory at the foot of Mt Makiling in Los Baños, Laguna, overlooking the tranquil Laguna Lake. UPCA was officially established by the American Board of Regents on 06 March 1909[1], a Saturday (Kahimyang.com). The college was founded by American botanist Edwin B Copeland, who thereby declared the strict scientific rigor of curricula and classes.

UPLB celebrates its 112^th Foundation Day today 06 March, also a Saturday, with the theme “Future-Proof UPLB: Responding To The Challenges Of The Times[2]” (UPLB.edu.ph). Now, a future-proofed system, computer, program etc is “guaranteed not to be superseded by future versions, developments, etc[3]” (Collins English Dictionary). Now, Chancellor Jose V Camacho Jr said earlier: “My vision of ‘future-proofing UPLB’ is about sustaining UPLB’s relevance by developing methods, approaches and framework to minimize the cost and impacts of shocks of future events[4].”

Now, thinking costs and causes, with due respect, I believe the best way to future-proof UPLB is to computerize the contents of curricula, courses & classes. I mean, for educational purposes, use the Internet for Juan’s sake!

Unfortunately, up to this very minute that I am writing this essay, even the most-likely candidate avant-garde, UPLB College of Development Communication (DevCom), does not teach its students digital journalism.

Today, journalism begins and ends with what it considers Truth, no matter who gets hurt. To survive the future, DevCom must teach what I call “THiNK Journalism” – True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind? It should be creative writing.

In- or out-of-school, digital journalism can be learned. Ask me. I am a self-taught digital warrior, beginning when I was already 45, in 1985. Since then, I have been Editor In Chief for several publications, including WFH authoring and desktop publishing 7 books for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, based in India, when William Dar was Director General of ICRISAT; he is now Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA). (Sorry, but right now there are no plans for DA publications.)

All 10 UPLB colleges are digital candidates for future-proofing: Agriculture & Food Science, Arts & Sciences, Development Communication, Economics & Management, Engineering & Agro-Industrial Technology, Environmental Science & Management, Forestry & Natural Resources, Human Ecology, Public Affairs & Development, and Veterinary Medicine. (Plus the Graduate School.)

To survive, UP Los Baños must computerize, transform into a digital universe. UPLB can future-proof itself via an Internet of Things (IoT) that it will develop itself for its own purposes. IoT? Today, so much challenge. Today, UPLB does not even have a Knowledge Bank for Agriculture!

Yes, UP Los Baños can make herself future-proof by speaking the language of the future now: “Knowledge Programming.”@517

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[1]https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/979/today-in-philippine-history-march-6-1909-the-university-of-the-philippines-los-ba-os-was-officially-established

[2]https://uplb.edu.ph/all-news/uplb-to-celebrate-112th-foundation-day/#:~:text=UPLB%20is%20set%20to%20celebrate,series%20of%20programs%20and%20events.

[3]https://www.thefreedictionary.com/future-proof

[4]https://uplb.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/VISION_JVCAMACHO.pdf

World Bank’s “Internet Of Things” Vs PH’s “Internet Of HOPE”

Above is an output of the Korea-World Bank Partnership Facilityhaving financed a pilot study to invoke the Internet of Things (IoT) when farmers apply the technology alternate wetting & drying (AWD) in growing rice (image[1] from Blogs.worldbank.org). 

I’m a farmer’s son and an agriculturist, and so I appreciate the beauty of AWD in saving irrigation water. See the cellphone? It connects the farmer to the Knowledge Bank within the IoT to help grow rice following the AWD technology package.

All that is from the article by Vikas Choudhary & Karin Fock about a pilot AWD IoT (23 April 2020, “Precision Agriculture For Smallholder Farmers In Vietnam: How The Internet Of Things Helps Smallholder Paddy Farmers Use Water More Efficiently[2],” World Bank Blogs). The authors say:

The pilot found that IoT technology is technically feasible to apply with smallholder farmers. The system runs reliably with an uptime close to 100 percent, consistent precision in measuring water levels, and minor troubleshooting, outages, or maintenance. The IoT system is user friendly (sic) for farmers, and they appreciate its precision and convenience. Farmers applying IoT used between 13 to 20 percent less water than farmers applying conventional AWD.

The Vietnamese farmers find that a complicated technology package such as the IoT AWD can be handled by them using a cellphone. It is user-friendly; the setup is precise in its measurements, and is convenient to use.

My congratulations to World Bank! Ah, but I’m thinking more than an IoT – I’m thinking of what I call “Internet of HOPE” – where the Internet and cellphone will also be there, with a huge difference as to the Knowledge Bank, this time containing the users’ HOPE:

H for Hows
O for Options & Opportunities & Obstacles
P for Products & Processes
E for Economic Emancipation.

“Internet of HOPE” is actually my new name for my old concept of an Internet for farmers. For the last 17 years, I have been thinking of a Knowledge Bank that fits the proposal of then-Director General of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and now Philippine Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, for the creation of what he called the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture(OpAPA), which he submitted via PhilRice. That was when Leo Sebastian was PhilRice Director (he is now Undersecretary of Agriculture and Chief of Staff of Mr Dar); Mr Sebastian recruited me to PhilRice as a consultant. To help bring out into the real world OpAPA, I wrote a book that I titled The Geography Of Knowledge, 198 pages in pdf (a copy of which I keep to this day). I called it the “geography of knowledge” because you have to explore, if blindly, the territory – you don’t know what you don’t know, and that is why you need a Knowledge Bank. I submitted my OpAPA concept, but it was ignored, starting with the fellow to whom I submitted the pdf copy. But I believe in it even more now, so I am resurrecting it.

To Good be the Glory!@517

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[1]https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/precision-agriculture-smallholder-farmers-vietnam-how-internet-things-helps

[2]https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/precision-agriculture-smallholder-farmers-vietnam-how-internet-things-helps

Celebrating Life, Celebrating Hope

I celebrate life. I thank God I turned 80 some 6 months ago, in September.

I celebrate hope.
Yja, one of my many grandchildren, 16 in all, turned 12 yesterday. I and my wife Ampywere there at the house of Paul & Celeste Hilario, if late, 9 PM. Our daughters Jennifer, Daphne and Graciela were already there. Daphne was there with her husband Mark Gonzales& their only son Franklin. Our kumpadre & kumadre, Rene & Pida Banaticla, parents of Celeste, were there ahead of us. The air was cold, but we smiled at each other warmly. Thank God for families!
(Yja in photo above taken by her father Paul when Lola Ampy celebrated her 70^th birthday at La Riqueza Hot Spring Villa in Calamba City, 5 years ago)

We celebrate life.
We must celebrate life. We have God’s love that we have reached this far in our existence on this earth. Rich or poor, we are lucky to be alive. Never mind that we are in a coronavirus pandemic lockdown all over the country; living is not in a lockdown. We must look up and say “God, thank you very much!”

I celebrate the village.
I celebrate life in the village. I have been doing that for 45 years, since 16 April 1975, when I began working for the Forest Research Institute (FORI), and one by one I became founder & Editor in Chief of the 3 publications of FORI: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop; and quarterly color magazine Habitat. Where are the farmers & their families there? Unhappily, inside the forest, as slash-and-burn cultivators of the soil, illegal wood gatherers, or unlicensed collectors of wildlife. Happily, around the forest.

I celebrate teaching.
I graduated with a BS in Agriculture in 1965, major in Ag Education, passing the very first Teacher’s Exam given, in 1964, 80.6%, Professional Level. I taught high school in my hometown Asingan; I taught college at the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture in Los Baños, at the College of Agriculture of Xavier University in Cagayan De Oro City.

I most celebrate blogging.
I learned that I was good at writing at senior year high school yet, 1957. Today, I celebrate my blogging, self-taught, for Filipino farmers and their families. I started doing this earnestly when in January 2007 now-Secretary of Agriculture William Dar hired me as international consulting writer for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India, when he was Director General – that was an assignment that lasted 8 years, until Mr Dar retired as Director General in December 2014.

While essentially long distance, I loved my ICRISAT years as a work-from-home (WFH) writer, because I was actually researching the science of agriculture as applied by ICRISAT in Asia and Africa so that the same may be applied in the Philippines.

I just found the perfect ending for this one from the Facebook sharing of Jovita Movillon:

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. – Pablo Picasso@517

In PH, What Else The PNA Must Do – Having Neglected Aggie Journalism!?

Where have journalists employed by government such as by the Philippine News Agency (PNA) been hiding all these months? I see the absence of PNA stories on PH Agriculture today, whose troubles of many years have been exacerbated by the Covid 19 lockdown. All have been adversely affected: individuals and institutions, corporations and crops. And the PNA has not been paying much attention!?

I don’t know since when did PNA start ignoring PH Agriculture. My attention is on the crops, because I am a farmer’s son as well as a journalist. And so I ask: “Where have all the government journalists gone?” About agriculture, I only come across the short items from the Communications Group of the Department of Agriculture (DA), hardly from the Philippine Information Agency, and none from the PNA.

Checking the website at https://www.pna.gov.ph, I find that the PNA has Business, Healthand Sports as major news categories, but neither Agriculture nor Education!

I am an agriculturist and a teacher, Civil Service Professional Level, so the PNA disappoints me twice. And what about the millions of Filipino farmers who produce the foods for the country, not to mention the millions who consume such foods?

Says the PNA in its website:

The Philippine News Agency is a web-based newswire service of the Philippine government under the supervision of the News and Information Bureau (NIB) of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

Therefore, since I doubt that the PCO knows about the lack of full national coverage of the PNA, someone must inform President Rodrigo Duterte that the PCO is neglecting Agriculture, the biggest part of the citizenry of his country!

The biggest part of the citizenry of the Philippines has 5.56 million farms/holdings covering 7.19 M ha[1] (2012 data, PSA.gov.ph). With an average of 6 members of a family to a farm, that’s 33 million people whose interests are being neglected by the PNA.

Wake up, PNA! Asa ka pa! You should be serving the farmers, not only the businessmen and the athletes.

The PNA is not the only one guilty of neglecting to engage in a continuing communication of news and views on Philippine agriculture. The old and very private Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ), founded more than 40 years ago, has not been continuously and conspicuously coming out with news and views on what is happening to the farming families all over the country, what is happening to the food supply and what is the market situation for each farm produce, etc. Wake up, PAJ! Isa ka pa!

The PNA celebrated its founding on 01 March – what is there to celebrate for?! Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlossays, “Amid Pandemic, PNA Evolves Into ‘Healers, Hope Givers’[2],” PNA.gov.ph). Ms Ruth quotes NIB Director Virginia Arcilla-Agtay as saying, “Beyond our primary role as government media, we are healers and hope givers by being purposeful storytellers beyond basic reportage.”

Yes, Ms Virginia, but when will the PNA start reportage on Agriculture? We Filipinos cannot heal without food; our farmers do not have hope without income.@517

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[1]https://psa.gov.ph/tags/agriculture-and-fisheries

[2]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1132056?fbclid=IwAR3HHyZZGOf7_u6GX_yNjH8v-QZpKakZCNLZehqJXs_R3V_TGKPht0t1wHg