“Go Negosyo” (“Be Business-Minded”) – My Agriculturist Challenge For Private Firms To Help Growers Go Organic To Help Solve Farmer Poverty And Resolve Climate Change!

The latest news is that, encouraged by founder Joey Concepcion of Go Negosyo (“Be Business-Minded,” my translation), private-sector Philippines is helping mentor groups. I am reading the news specifically dated Tuesday, 20 Dec 2022, on counseling entrepreneurs in agriculture.

Kristina Maralit says “Ex-DA Chief Beefs Up Go Negosyo” (21 Dec 2022, The Manila Times, manilatimes.net):

To further enhance the mentorship program between medium and large corporations and micro and small enterprises, former Agriculture Secretary William Dar has joined Go Negosyo's Kapatid Angat Lahat initiative as head of its agriculture program, founder Jose Maria "Joey" Concepcion 3rd announced on Tuesday.

Mr Dar is now head of the agriventure program of Go Negosyo’s “Kapatid Angat Lahat” (“Brothers All Uplifted” – my translation).

Ms Kristina further says:

Uplifting the country's agriculture sector is seen as especially crucial to job generation, a key priority of the Marcos administration and the jobs sector led by Concepcion as a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council, and having Dar onboard apparently gives Go Negosyo's efforts to help small agricultural entrepreneurs the much-needed boost.

Mr Dar himself says:

I would like to believe that there are existing models to improve upon. Now, with the coming in of Go Negosyo through the Kapatid Angat Lahat program for agro-micro-entrepreneurship, we need to [be] looking at them through a number of lenses … productivity, value chain analysis, sustainability, resiliency and inclusivity as the main areas of focus.

Emphasis: “Productivity, value chain analysis, sustainability, resiliency and inclusivity as the main areas of focus.” That is all agri-entrepreneurship.

Now I have to interrupt the good news because I know that the kind of agriculture Filipino farmers are practicing right now – Chemical Agriculture (CA) – is also generating greenhouse gases (GHGs) that generate climate change.
(“Climate” image from weforum.org)

That tells me that the Department of Agriculture (DA) has much prior work to do first to convince farmers to adopt Organic Agriculture (OA), which is a method or practice of Regenerative Agriculture (RA). Because, yes, OA is designed to simultaneously solve Farmer Poverty and resolve Climate Change.

Not to worry about Mr Dar. I have written: “William Dar, My Favorite Secretary Of Agriculture, Now Champions ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ – Via Organic Farming, We Should Have Our P20/kg Rice Within 6 Months!” (EarthMinds, blogspot.com). So, Go Negosyo’s “Kapatid Angat Lahat” – that is, improved economic lives for all – can happen only to farmers applying organic agriculture principles and practices.

Why because OA automatically reduces the cost of farming, from expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides, to inexpensive organic fertilizers (and organic pesticides, when and if necessary).

Low costs = high returns, right?

The problem is that our agricultural institutions, from instruction to research to extension, including my beloved UP Los Baños, are still promoting Chemical Agriculture! “The global food system is responsible for 21-37% of annual [greenhouse gas] emissions” (John Lynch et al 2021, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). We cannot continue to ignore Climate Change and agriculture’s contribution in terms of emissions that exacerbate climate change!@517