BBM Sir, Help! As Secretary Of Agriculture, You Can Solve Farmer Poverty And Resolve Climate Change! If You’re Listening …

Here is a technical challenge to President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr, a half-blooded Ilocano, by Frank A Hilario, a full-blooded Ilocano – it’s Chemical Agriculture (CA) vs Organic Agriculture (OA). It is the least BBM can do as acting Secretary of Agriculture – show government efforts to solve Farmer Poverty, simultaneously resolve Climate Change!

(“Urgent” from Siemens, siemens-stiftung.org, “Sunset” from Climate Reality Project, climaterealityproject.org/)

Actually, it’s your science versus my science. Your CA dates back to 1908 when the Americans founded the UP College of Agriculture (now UP Los Baños) – that’s 114 years ago. My OA dates back to 1965 when I discovered in the open shelves of the library of UPLB the books written by American gentleman farmer Edward H Faulkner titled Plowman’s Folly (published 1943) and Soil Development (1953), both published by the University of Oklahoma Press. The first book argued against plowing; on the cover, the second book instructed the reading farmer:

“Grow soil while growing crops… or lose both.”

I, Filipino Agriculturist (UPLB BSA major in Ag Edu 1965), have followed Mr Faulkner’s advice and come up with a rotavator adjustment that does exactly this: “Rich Soil, Rich Crop!”

My claim is backed up by the decades of experience of my brother-in-law Enso Casasus in my hometown, Asingan, Pangasinan. His neighbor farmers imitated everything that they saw him do – but they did not notice what he was doing with his rotavator: creating an organic mulch all over the field simultaneously with cultivating the soil. An original concept of mine.

So,, today, I challenge BBM to assign P17 Million from the Department of Agriculture (DA) funds for a techno demo of 70 hectares planted to hybrid rice: 35 ha in the City of Batac, the hometown of his late father ex-President Ferdinand “FM” Marcos, and 35 ha in my hometown, which is also the hometown of ex-President Fidel Valdez Ramos.

Yes Sir, BBM, this proposed DA project I call “The 5Ms Challenge for PH Agriculture” – Mayamang Lupa, Mataas na Ani, Malusog na Mamimili, Malaking Kita, Masayang Kalikasan. (Rich Earth, High Harvests, Healthy Consumers, Big Earnings, Happy Surroundings).

Here are details of the 5 Ms Techno Demo…

Batac plots:
30 ha planted to hybrid rice, soil cultivated according to PhilRice recommendations, rice grown using the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method originated in 1983 by Jesuit priest Fr Henri De Laulanie in Madagascar, with equidistant planting of single seedlings. Grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, following recommendations of rice hybrid companies;
5 ha planted to hybrid rice grown according to the individual practice of 5 volunteer local farmers.

Asingan plots:
30 ha planted to hybrid rice, grown with soil cultivated via the rotavator operated under my strict instructions.
5 ha to hybrid rice, grown according to practice of 5 volunteer local farmers.

Very Important: The 5Ms Project will be implemented via selected cooperatives in Batac and Asingan, 1 coop each. This will help wake up any “sleeping” farmers as to what they can do to help themselves!@517