In
a Facebook post I saw Friday, 26 April 2024 on “The
Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Laureates” (top image), William Dollente Dar was/is 3rd
on top. I was not surprised. What I have been surprised is that, even as I finalize
writing this, this mid-morning of Sunday, April 28, some 2 days later, not a
single one of the Philippine newspapers, including digital news media, has written
of TOFIL 2024 – our media people are not interested in the world and works of
outstanding Filipinos?!
Mum on TOFIL – Where are you
BusinessMirror?
BusinessWorld?
Manila Bulletin?
Manila Times?
Philippine Daily Inquirer?
Philippine Star?
Rappler?
PH Agriculture needs a Visionary Leader – and you are looking at him right now,
framed in my photograph of 2018 when he was speaking before the crowd gathered
in Pampanga by RiceUp, a group of
level-headed activists dedicated to improving the lives of rice farmers. (He in
turned invited me, that is why I was there.)
Above,
intentionally, I took the lower image to dramatize the personality of Mr Dar as
a leader: visionary, inspiring, directional, trusting.
He graduated
with a BS in Agriculture major in Ag Extension from the Benguet State University. He earned a PhD in Horticulture
from UP Los Baños.
Mr
Dar knows human poverty – His family could not afford to send him
to college but his Uncle Osting
did; thank God for relatives who recognize potentials and demonstrate that they
care!
Mr
Dar knows institutional poverty – When he became Director General
of the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in 2000, based in India, ICRISAT
was dead last among the international agricultural institute members of the
CGIAR Group. He inspired his ICRISAT staff with his Vision, “Science with a
human face” – and soon, ICRISAT was the #1 CGIAR member!
Mr
Dar knows digital poverty – When he was still Director General of
ICRISAT, more than 20 years ago, Mr Dar submitted a proposal he called Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture
(OpAPA). OpAPA was meant to be worked on by Philippine agriculture bodies such
as the Department of Agriculture, PhilRice, and UP Los Baños. I was a consultant of PhilRice at that time,
and I was excited to write a digital book on how to make OpAPA a reality in the
digital world; I titled my book The
Geography Of Knowledge (TGoK). Nothing came out of OpAPA and TGoK – the
Filipino agriculturists are not interested in teaching Filipino farmers
digitally?
In
the Facebook post of TOFIL, below the image, it proudly proclaims: “Planet vs
Plastics: We are the Architects of Renewal.”
I
agriculturist & teacher (UPLB Ag Edu 1965) believe that:
(1)
It’s not “Planet vs Plastics” – rather, it’s “Planet vs Planters.” We humans
have destroyed so much of Earth’s vegetation and are keeping our farms bare,
absorbing and reflecting the sun’s heat.
(2)
The leadership of the Department of
Agriculture needs renewal right now! The Philippines needs a Secretary
of Agriculture who thinks rich – rich farms, rich farmers, rich villages!@517
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