Pandemic Maria Today Has The Savage Breast That Must Be Soothed Universally

“Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast[1]” – this is the first line of the play “The Mourning Bride” by British playwright & poet William Congreve, 1697 (Wikipedia).

We have lost the music. With a universal problem like the coronavirus, how do you solve a problem like Maria? Sing of the hills & apples!

Ha. Here is where The Song is The Soul of The Soil!

55 years ago – I was 24, single & a new graduate of the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture – when along with the rest of the world I celebrated the coming of “The Sound Of Music” with Julie Andrews as lead star, released 02 March 1965[2] (The Hollywood Reporter). (images from Hits Movies[3] and OSF[4])

But I did not know then what I know now, what I realize now. First, let us look at the Prelude to The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews dancefully singing

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music…

Where is the sound of music coming from? The breeze. Where is the sound of the breeze coming from? The leaves of trees, the leaves of grass. And where are the trees and grasses coming from? The grounds.

So, the Sound of Music is really coming from The Soil!

Today, during these difficult times of the Coronavirus Pandemic all over the world, we have difficult times singing any song. Today, I realize that I must go back to Asingan High and sing – and teach – the sound of music again.

All the powers of the universal medical world will not, cannot bring us the lost health of millions of people treated and untreated for the coronavirus disease. But the powers of the universal agricultural world can. “Let thy food be thy medicine,” the Universal Father of Medicine Hippocrates said, “and medicine be thy food.” Good food. (And yes, we grow good apples in the Philippines now too!)

Where is the origin of the story told in “The Sound Of Music?” Austria, which is “largely mountainous and landlocked[5]” (Britannica). In 2001, the US Library of Congress listed it in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant[6]" (Wikipedia). That’s the film. About the setting and song, I Frank A Hilario find it naturally significant: All the music I appreciate comes from Mother Nature eventually.

The sound of music is really coming from the soil. And it is the soil that gives soul to the singer. No medicine can do that!

It is the good food from the good soil that gives good music to the composer that gives good health to the singer. And to the rest of us, now Souls in Purgatory!

We have to go back to Good Agriculture and nurse it back to its good health using its own resources. And where do we start? With our good mental resources!@517

 

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Congreve

[2]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sound-music-review-1965-movie-1090228

[3]https://movies.hitstv.com/movies/details.php?ID=209

[4]https://www.okspecialtyfruits.com/earth-day-the-future-of-produce-waste/

[5]https://www.britannica.com/place/Austria

[6]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music_(film)

“PH Agripreneurships, Here We Come!” – The Dynamic Duo?

Note, I said Agripreneurships – plural.

In her Manila Timesitem of 01 August 2020, “Officials Bat For Agripreneurship[1]” Eireene Jairee Gomez says:

To cope with the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on the country’s agriculture sector, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria “Joey” Concepcion 3rd and Agriculture Secretary William Dar pushed for agripreneurship under a new-normal setting.

I will now make a fine distinction between private-oriented entrepreneurship, as Mr Concepcion has it, and farmer-oriented entrepreneurship, as Mr Dar has it.

Mr Concepcion says, “The opportunity for many who have lost their jobs is to move into agri – whether you are in rural areas or whether you are at home, you can start your own agribusiness.”

I’m concerned more with PH farmers as entrepreneurs trying to escape penury. An inveterate blogger since January 2007, of mice, men & minds, here I cannot separate inclusive market-oriented development, IMOD, that I first learned about when Mr Dar was still Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, taking me in as international consulting writer based in the Philippines. ICRISAT was/is based in India.

Among the Friday webinar panelists were enterprise-minded heads: Department of Science Technology, DoST, Fortunato de la Peña; Mat Maderazo of Planters Products, and Cherrie Atilano of Agrea Philippines.

Miss Gomez says:

The webinar also presented opportunities that aspiring and practicing agripreneurs can consider to (kick start) their own agribusiness ventures in addition to government programs to support the development of such enterprises.

Along with Mr Concepcion’s traditional agribusiness, I see Mr Dar going after untraditional agribusiness. I know he would prefer they are inclusive of the poor farmers, that is to say, the agribusiness is an act of liberating them from poverty and reaching the level of sustainable prosperity.

For that, IMOD has a different kind of market-orientedness. The way I understand it since 13 years ago is that the IMOD pursuer must see to it that the market becomes a friend of farming and not a fiend, at the very least not William Shakespeare’s Shylock exacting his pound of flesh!

Miss Gomez says Mr De la Peña said the DoST offered agripreneurs millions of pesos worth of Niche Centers dedicated to R&D and 17 Food Innovation Centers across the country. “’Science for the people’ is our tagline.” Actually Sir, Mr Dar came up with a more memorable phrase when he was still DG or ICRISAT years ago:

Science with a human face.

To systematically cultivate entrepreneurship in agriculture, you need Science. To sustainably cultivate farmers, you need Science applied via Cooperatives successfully applying economies of scale for many poor farm families in the countryside. (coop entrepreneurship image from Drexel Coop[2])

Yes, for farmers to exit poverty. I do believe in:

Science With Coop Hands!@

 

 

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[1]https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/08/01/news/top-stories/officials-bat-for-agripreneurship/748468/?fbclid=IwAR0gQ4C2KyPGipFgcWyji8KQQ8vJZkdMZWDx_GRM3p3PTucMg9Z6yz1aMtA

[2]https://drexel.edu/close/programs/co-op/

From 16 Weeks To 1-Day Organic Farming Training – Farmers Learning Digital, Trainors First!

Nobody is saying it, so I become Nobody:

Today and all throughout 2020,
Digital is the best way to go in Agriculture!

On Facebook, Noel Punzalan shared on 29 July 2020, “Ex-MILF Rebels Undergo 16-Week Training On Organic Farming[1]” (PNA), of farmers of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, MILF – and I thought 16 weeks was way, way too long. Immediately I saw the people and purpose were perfect for a digital learning, for ATI first and farmers next! (digital screen image from eLearning Industry[2])

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[1]https://elearningindustry.com/convert-instructor-led-training-to-digital-learning

In the main image above, a former MILF combatant fighting people turns into a warrior fighting hunger and poverty by signing his name for inclusion as a trainee for vegetable organic farming in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Orientation Day. He is among a batch of 25 MILF farmers to be trained at the MILF main base in Sultan Kudarat from August to September.

“(Instead) of rice and corn, the MILF farmers will now venture (into) planting and raising of vegetables,” Abdulraof Macacua said, the Executive Secretary of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Today, you can train in Season-Long
Organic Farming 16 times faster –
after ATI makes it Digital via
video & computer apps.

Digital. At the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI) premises in any region of the Philippines, the training that used to take too many weeks can now be taken in 1 day – once the ATI reduces 16 weeks (equivalent 16 days) to only 1 day (equivalent 1 week) – a whooping 94% saving of everything!

It was only last Friday, 31 July 2020, writing about the problems of the New “Normal” PH Agriculture (“RCEF For PH Agriculture: Farmers Not Yet Business-Aware. Scientists Not So Active. Extensionists Not So Alive[3]!” THiNK Journalism), that I mentioned, among other things:

Super Knowledge: Make sure our Extensionists can compose & decompose Technologies and/or Systems for & bring to the attention of farmers the quickest & unobtrusive way: Digital.

From now on, farmer or not, in Luzon, the Visayas, or Mindanao, anyone can cut off 15 days out of field training in organic farming after the ATI people have done their digital homework.

Composed or decomposed? 16 weeks of training cannot be decomposed in real time – but they can be composed-decomposed in digital time.

My thoughts: To decompose-compose 16 weeks of training into 1 week, in 1 actual season-long rice farming, first the ATI people will record digitally and separately what are supposed to be seen (also shown in sweeping and panoramic video views with appropriate & complete audios), very visible, almost touchable, sequence to sequence, season to season. The outputs will include video clips, PowerPoint presentations, and Microsoft Word documents printed out for distribution.

Trainees can then bring home their soft copy set of the lessons and watch on their own sweet times eating, chatting with loved ones. Learning agriculture has never been this entertaining!

Now playing: “DA-ATI 1 Day Organic Farming Digital.”
The miracle of the digital world brought to you by the DA!@517

 

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[1]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1110421?fbclid=IwAR2syqdbw-jxLLPpX2X5J0K0SoRIhFOqUuh5XMYYe6oB6bvap3x7dPD6bDk

[2]https://elearningindustry.com/convert-instructor-led-training-to-digital-learning

[3]https://ithinkjournalism.blogspot.com/2020/07/rcef-for-ph-agriculture-farmers-not-yet.html?fbclid=IwAR3ibqGfK3p7Q30FyputuE7WsdbbXv4Z9hWN_esDlHTIdcA4858RE2g_21w

These “God, No Jokes ” Stories Of Mine

If you don’t mind, I do!

Unfashionable, these little stories are just starters. That image is my photograph, taken 2010 – will these God little stories of mine scare, scar, sear or save you?

Ever the original aboriginal Ilocano, I am collecting-writing “God, No Jokes” stories to celebrate my 80^th birthday, __ September 2020. You will know the exact date when I offer free the complete soft copy (pdf) with as many stories as i hope to live: 120.

I have been inspired by my old fellow Ilocano Jun AV Revilla sharing jokes on Facebook, told by others even from many years back. The difference is this: He has a good memory; he is a copywriter – he copies jokes. I am an original; I am a jokewriter, and I joke you not! Even the word jokewriter I just invented right now.

So here are some God, No Jokes Stories, all my originals, all off Facebook:

Manny Pacquiao: Heinous Crimes He Knows?

Manny Pacquiao: On a Facebook sharing linked to PhilStarpicture-story of 29 July 2020: “Hindi po labag sa mata ng gobyerno, sa mata ng Panginoon… dahil biblically po, allowed po ang gobyerno, the authority which is established by God, to impose (death penalty for heinous crimes).” (image from Forbes.com[1])

Frank A Hilario: What Manny is saying is that “You shall not kill” applies only to “non-wicked, abominable crimes” as Man/Manny defines/“dictionarizes” it. In fact, biblically, what God said is, “You shall not kill.” He did not qualify. Here, Manny is qualifying God. Manny, I’m the Editor, not you!

Life’s Magic

Rebecca R Hannah: “I like cancelled plans / and rainy day naps. / I like old bookstores / And empty coffee shops. / I like muddy gardens / And the smell of melting chocolate. / But mostly I just like the sweet, simple magic that this life has to offer.” – Brooke Hampton, barefootfive.com

Frank A Hilario: Actually, my dear, life does not make the magic – we do, if and when suddenly we discover it!

The Shepherd You

John Dela Cruz: Quoting from the Bible: “I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know me.” John 10:14

Frank A Hilario: That’s why we have a lost sheep all the time. We Christians are sheep, and we have a shepherd.We are a flock. The best metaphor I can think of a group of Christians is from Servant Leadership. Our community is always a whole Sheep Leadership: One leads now, but at any time the Shepherd becomes mere Sheep and any Sheep becomes Shepherd. That is why we are all invited to learn everything.

Growing older, or growing wiser?

Rebecca R Hannah: She says in a Facebook sharing of 30 July 2020, “SO did I, so it goes,” to introduce the huge big colored text that says in 7 words:

I thought growing old would take longer.

Frank A Hilario: Actually yes, and you should thank God for that! What you should be aiming at is growing wiser, because that always takes much longer!@517

 

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[1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2016/04/09/manny-pacquiao-set-to-retire-with-500-million-in-career-earnings/#28b0007e75c1

RCEF For PH Agriculture: Farmers Not Yet Business-Aware. Scientists Not So Active. Extensionists Not So Alive!

From Facebook sharing by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar: “DA Yet To Obligate, Disburse 65% Of RCEF For This Year[1]” by Madelaine B Miraflor (27 June 2020, Manila Bulletin):

To obligate P15 billion:
67% (P10 billion) for Mechanization
20% (P03 billion) for Seed Distribution
13% (P02 billion) for Credit & Extension.

I look at the numbers as So Much Power Distributed.

Knowledge Is Power – Thomas Jefferson.
(icon from National MS[2]) 
More powers must be applied to ailing PH agriculture today – Frank A Hilario.

I refer to the (1) Power of Budget, (2) Power of Business, (3) Power of Science, and (4) Power of Knowledge Composed & Communicated. (business plan from PESTLE Analysis[3]). These powers are all necessary, to give overall PH Agriculture the requisite assistances that it needs to help bring Filipinos from the “New Normal” to the “New Prosperity.”

We are Witness to History in the Making – and the best thing is we have in Secretary William Dar the Best National Manager for PH Agriculture.

I am sure of that. I have known him for the last 13 years starting when he was on his 8th year as Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India. He was DG from January 2000 to December 2014, when he had to retire. 15 years as head of an international agency that covered/covers Asia and Africa – the Indians must have seen the high quality of Servant Leader that they had!

I knew all that because I was international consulting writer for ICRISAT from January 2007 to December 2014. As a work from home, WFH, consultant, I wrote and ICRISAT published 7 collections of my essays about its aims and accomplishments. ICRISAT's shining light was a 5-word beacon: “Science with a human face.” And so I am sure, while it has not been articulated yet, in advancing PH Agriculture, that will become:

Science with a Philippine face.
Science for all. Prosperity for all.

Nonetheless, our servant leader is not going to do it all for us! We are all in this together.

My first contribution. Differently and diffidently, I would obligate the P15 billion this way:
40% (P06 billion) for Mechanization
20% (P03 billion) for Seed Distribution
40% (P06 billion) for Credit & Extension.

I got P4 billion from Mechanization added to Credit & Extension – these 2 being most neglected until now.

One for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, and Four to go!

Super Budget: DA should have it.

Super Business: Make sure Landbank assists ably financially and teach Coops to teach Member Farmers to be mindful of Costs & Returns.

Super Science: Make sure our Research Managers & Researchers come up with more new and/or improved Aggie Science.

Super Knowledge: Make sure our Extensionists can compose & decompose Technologies and/or Systems for & bring to the attention of farmers the quickest & unobtrusive way: Digital.

"Together we act, win, heal and rise as one!" – William Dar@517

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[1]https://mb.com.ph/2020/07/27/da-yet-to-obligate-disburse-65-of-rcef-for-this-year/

[2]https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Resources-Support/Library-Education-Programs/Knowledge-is-Power

[3]https://pestleanalysis.com/key-elements-of-business-plan/

Is The Coconut A Hard Nut To Crack? Only If Your Coconut Is!

This is a classic case of:
Damned if you do;
Damned if you don't!
And yes it involves our coconuts.

The text above those images in the Facebook sharing of Bahdor Shia said, clipped out but reproduced below (fresh coconut in box for export[1], image from Alibaba.com:

Meeting with the presidents of the coconut growers/planters of the different towns of Bohol together with the Regional Bohol-PCA. The coco farmers groups are “fully supportive of Sec William Dar’s coco initiatives but raise some concerns on the issue of re-planting of aromatic and high-yielding coco varieties. According to the farmers, for the issuance of cutting permit, an applicant has to pay a cutting fee and filing fee with the PCA, certification fee with the barangay and another fee for the chainsaw operator. Sans income because of low price of copra plus the high expenses for the permit to cut, there will be no chance for the coco farmers to revamp old trees and replant new coco varieties unless these concerns are addressed.

Bohol is the historic Philippine town where we find those Chocolate Hills – yes, from afar, they look like drops of chocolate good enough to eat. And there’s plenty of them.

Here, coconut farmers are talking with PCA officers about replanting old coconut groves with aromatic and high-yielding coconut varieties. Now:

The good news will come years later:
The bad news comes now.

Before you replant, you have to cut the old trunks – and before you can bring in any chainsaw operator, you have to pay the PCA 2 fees: for filing  and cutting. You also have to pay 2 fees with the barangay: certification and chainsaw operation.

The coconut groups are talking here of coconuts for export – aromatic and high-yielding. But the news did not say that they knew that it was part of “The 8 Paradigms” of Mr Dar’s “The New Thinking for Agriculture” for the Philippines (see #3):

(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.(8) Roadmap development.

The hesitance to pursue the rehabilitation of the old Bohol coconut groves seems to proceed mainly from the business cost – expenses for clearing and replanting; and opportunity cost – loss of income in the intervening years.

Ah, the

Twixt the optimist and the pessimist
The difference is droll;
The optimist sees the doughnut

Nobody seemed to have suggested it, but if I were there I would have recommended the formation of a coconut export cooperative, the

I am sure Mr Dar will listen to their plea – but first they have to come up with the plan!@

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https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/FRESH-COCONUT-FOR-EXPORT_50034843697.html

Bright, Beautiful, Beguiling Picture Of PH Agriculture

What you’re looking at is the Reality – as well as the Promise– of not only Soybean Farming in Surigao in far away Mindanao but also its radiating effects to all of Agriculture in the Philippines! Not obvious. You have to see more; you have to learn more. (PH map from Wikipedia[1])

An Agriculturist, a science writer of 35 years and a wide reader, I myself did not know that distant Surigao produces more than half of the country’s supply of soybeans, as according to Executive Director Abel James Monteagudo of Caraga Region (Region 13) of the Department of Agriculture, DA, news brought to us by Alexander Lopez (24 July 2020, “Mechanization Brings Hope To Surigao Sur Soybean Farmers[2],” PNA).

Mr Monteagudo said, “Even before, with their not so advanced way, soybean farmers in Surigao del Sur already (produced) more than half of the country’s soybean supply.” Months before mechanization, Surigao soybean farmers were already producing more than 50% of the PH supply – I can explain it not by size of science but by size of area: Small and Big. Surigao del Sur has been the biggest PH soybean producer since 1980.

Mr Monteagudo said the DA-supplied machinery “will help soybean farmers produce fast with less cost and better quality of farm produce.” With farm equipment, you cannot hurry up the natural growth of soybeans but can increase economies of scale and come up with cleaner beans with least sweat.

In November 2019, the Meme Agricultural Farmers Association, MAGFA, in the town of Tago, received from DA Caraga a water pump, multi-grain thresher (above image), and sorting machine. MAGFA Chair is Annabelle Dela Fuente Loja. The group has 100 hectares devoted to soybeans, which go into a wide variety of human and animal foods.

 “Soybean thrives well especially here in our Barangay, in Layug, Tago; that is why we have been planting this crop for a long time now,” Miss Loja said. With the new machinery from the DA, now they realize that their previous ways of farming were “time-consuming and labor-intensive.” With modern farming technology, you need less human effort and time spent and yet produce more with higher quality than before.

A member of MAGFA, Joel Ochavillo talked about another kind of assistance their group was getting from Caraga Region 3: Marketing. DA Caraga has helped MAGFA bring up the selling price of their soybean from P20/kilo to P30/kilo in Davao City. That is a wild, welcome jump of 50% in gross income! A doubling success.

Overall, MAGFA Chair Miss Loja says:

Many farmers are now encouraged to venture into soybean farming after seeing the improvements we experienced with the help of DA-13 through mechanization and support in marketing.

Mr Lopez’ good news on the “doubling success” of soybean farming of Surigao del Sur emphasizes the value of modern technology less and the value of marketing more. Unless marketing of produce is contracted for in advance, farmers always stand to lose in the wild universe of marketing.

Marvelous Science must be matched with Farmer-Friendly Marketing!@517

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[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

[2]https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1109958