Still Missing – Vision For A “Masaganang Agrikultura, Maunlad Na Ekonomiya!” Where’s The Connection, Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr?

“Masaganang Agrikultura, Maunlad Na Ekonomiya” (MAME) appears on the website of the Department of Agriculture (DA); “Profitable Agriculture, Progressive Economy” – my MAME translation. That is now the territory of Interim Secretary of Agriculture Francis Tiu Laurel Jr confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) Thursday, 05 Dec 2023. What then?

ANN says, “Agri Chief Gets CA Nod, Eyes Whole-Of-Nation Approach To Modernize Farm, Fisheries Sectors” (Author Not Named, 06 Dec 2023, DA, da.gov.ph). He had told the members of the CA, “Feeding 118 million Filipinos is a daunting yet ‘achievable goal’… to the modernization of the long-neglected agriculture sector.”

“Long-neglected agriculture sector” Sec Laurel says – he is wrong in condemning each Secretary of Agriculture before him, including past Interim Ferdinand Marcos Jr!

Actually, the “neglect” lies in not coming up with the Vision and the corresponding Mission of the DA.

So, Vision: Sustainability.
What’s the Mission?

Using the boat analogy, is it: “To steer as well as row the boat itself,” or “To steer the boat and let local government units (LGUs) do the rowing?”

What the DA has been doing is steering – and rowing – the boat simultaneously!

In his CA speech, Sec Laurel emphasized 2 things: sustainability and collective action, saying:

As  former chairman of the World Tuna Purse Seine Organization, I have seen firsthand the dire consequences of setting aside the issue of sustainability. Yet, sustainability encompasses every aspect of human existence, and thus needs the collective understanding, commitment, and action of every sector of society now and every day.

With that, I take it that Sustainability is Mr Laurel’s Vision and Collective Action is his Mission; that is, the DA steers while the LGUs rows the boat. Not what the DA has been doing all these years – steer & row simultaneously, and let the LGUs be damned!

Still, I have a quarrel with Sustainability – if we sustain the productive works that we do or can do in the farms, we will continue to suffer from Climate Change. What our farmers are practicing is Chemical Agriculture (CA), and it is CA that is generating those greenhouse gases (GHGs) coming from the farms and it is those GHGs that are causing Climate Change. Our farmers are our worst enemies!

Instead of Sustainability, I push for Regenerability, that is, the practice of Regenerative Agriculture (RA). RA works with Mother Nature, not against her.

The word “regenerative” is modern (1980s) but regenerability is historical, and can be found in these old practices (alphabetized)::

1, Compost application
2, Cover cropping
3, Crop rotation
4, Farm crops + tree crops (simultaneous)
5, Green manuring
6, Intercropping
7, Multiple cropping
8, No-till farming
9, Ratooning
10, “Three Sisters” cropping (corn + beans + squash)
11, Trap cropping
12, Trash mulching.

1. ”Compost application”, 5. ”Green manuring”, and 12. ”Trash mulching” are all operations to return to the soil what crops have taken from it: natural fertility is being replenished via natural materials, not chemical fertilizers.

If Sec Laurel does not appreciate that? Sorry!@517