“Seed Sharing –Beautiful Sights, Beautiful Spirits All. Next Step – Science Sharing, Then Income-Building For All!

Never have I been more excited reading local farm news than “Seed Sharing And Storytelling, Highlighted During HVCDP Week“from the Cordilleras (Department of Agriculture-Cordillera, DA-CAR Press Release 25-76), written by Alyssa Dawn Alalag:

“As part of the High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) Week celebration, a heartfelt seed sharing activity brought together farmers, gardeners, and advocates of seed saving from various areas of the BLISTT (Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay), Kapangan, Tabuk City and Pangasinan last April 8 at the DA-ATI CAR grounds.”

An Ilocano, from Asingan, Pangasinan, worried ahead about the coming more and more devastating typhoons brought about by Climate Change in turn brought about by Chemical Agriculture (CA), I am heartened that the spirit of sharing is alive and well in the boondocks!

Now then, I’m thinking ahead and applying the spirit of Seed Sharing to Science Sharing – formal/informal knowledge talks about what your neighbors have learned from other places but which may be applicable in your place.

Now at 85, I am too old to be an extension man, but there is the Internet and so I am encouraged! Seed sharing, enabled of course by seed saving, is a great tribal habit that should be adopted by modern farmers as may be encouraged and assisted by the DA.

Even before the time comes wqhen seed sharing has been well-adopted in the communities, even now the DA can introduce the seeds of knowledge for sharing – the new science of agriculture called Regenerative Agriculture (RA).

Why not Chemical Agriculture (CA)? Because, in fact, Climate Change can be traced back to modern CA that causes the generation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that, as in a greenhouse, trap the heat from the Earth and throws it back – Climate Change!

Then we can engage in Science Sharing with these beautiful practices in Regenerative Agriculture (RA), each of which is VLC=VHR, that is, very low costs = very high returns!

(1) Cover (ropping,
(2) (rop Rotation,
(3) Farm (rops + Tree (rops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Inter(ropping,
(6) Multiple (ropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organi( Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap (ropping, and
(13) Trash Mul(hing.

With science sharing, first in the Cordilleras, the region’s deep-rooted culture of solidarity and mutual support will not only continue but expand in meaning and relevance, towards the progress of the mountain people.

And if science is good for the mountain people, why not the lowland people?

“Seed sharing in the Cordilleras is more than just an agricultural activity, it is a reflection of the regions’s deep-rooted culture of solidarity and mutual support. This tradition, passed down through generations, emobodies the indigenous value of binnadang, a communal practice where neighbors help one another in times of need.”

Science sharing would then be an excellent ally, not simply a substitute, for agricultural extension in the highlands as well as the lowlands. Then farm science can enrich farmers both on the mountains and down there!@517 

The Best & Simplest Prayer I have Ever Seen, And It Makes Me Glad

May God Give You…..

For every storm, a rainbow.
for every care, a promise.
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share.

For every sigh, a sweet song.
And an answer for each prayer.
Good Morning

Wow! Thank you Sir William Dar! None in my whole life – and I’m 85 now – have I seen, or heard anything like this wonderful gift of a greeting cum prayer.

I count a total of 44 words. In Numerology, Emma says about people who happen to be involved with the “Angel Number” 44 (numerologynation.com):

They’re very focused on avoiding stressful situations and living a healthy lifestyle, often trying hard not to overdo things.

That much I know of William Dollente Dar from Ilocos Sur. “A healthy lifestyle” is what has helped him and his family avoid stressful situations, and there are many in his life! Read on.

More about people who happen to be involved with angel number 44:

… angel number 44 represents people who are good organizers. For them, maintaining their mental well-being, self-discipline, and inner balance is the most important thing.

Wow! The number “44” is associated with people who are “good organizers” – and I happen to know William Dar as one of them.

When Mr Dar became the Director General (DG) of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) based in India in 2000, ICRISAT was in the last place (kulelat) as a member of the CGIAR group of international research agencies. Kulelat. After 5 years as DG, Mr Dar had brought ICRISAT from kulelat to Number 1!

(How do I know when all that happened 20 years ago? Ah, I was then a Writer From Home (WFH) based in Los Baños for ICRISAT, breathing the intellectual air space of my alma mater UP Los Baños. (Yes, Mr Dar earned his PhD in Horticulture from UPLB himself.)

How well did Mr Dar organize the staff of ICRISAT whom none of them he knew? He came up with a slogan that they could all identify with:

“Science with a human face.”

Not only figuratively but literally, the science that the ICRISAT staff had discovered in their jobs were now seen important, nay necessary, in the lives of those in the semi-arid tropics! “Science with a human face” – so, after all, science is not meaningless to the farmer; if s/he looks at it in the face, s/he will find it friendly and companionable.

Isn’t the above greeting friendly and companionable?!

Mr Dar, of course, was the PH Secretary of Agriculture who came out with the inspirational “New Thinking For Agriculture” meant to bring PH Agriculture from the bottom to the top. Unfortunately, BBM did not see that and replaced him with himself.

So, where is PH Agriculture now? Suffering from mal-nutrition of the head!

I an agriculturist see it differently – if we stop our practices of Chemical Agriculture and concentrate on our practices of Regenerative Agriculture, Climate Change sooner or later we shall overcome!@517

Climate Change – Do You Want To Fight It, Or Do You Want To Defeat It Without Spending Too Much? The Impossible Dream!

Based on the image above (from climate.nasa.gov), how many is the world watching out for in response to Climate Change? Six! (1) sea ice, (2) sea level, (3) carbon dioxide, (4) global temperature, (5) ice sheets, and (6) ocean warming. Frank A Hilario’s response to that is this: “How will the world bring back to ‘normal’ sea ice, sea level, carbon dioxide, global temperature, ice sheets, and ocean warming? An impossible dream!

·         

on Bandsintown

From Energy Tracker Asia (energytracker.asia):

Energy Tracker Asia’s latest Special Report: “Unlocking Asia-Pacific’s Climate Potential: The 2035 NDC Challenge” examines the Asia-Pacific region’s significant role in global greenhouse gas emissions and the urgent need for countries to update their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) ahead of upcoming climate negotiations.

The governments of the world are now busying themselves on the aspect of how much greenhouse gases (GHGs) each country is producing, so that these could be limited by as much, to limit Climate Change.

I see: The “urgent need for countries to update their nationally determined contributions” means Asian countries need to wait 10 more years to see what they can do in terms of Climate Change.

I say: Our countries have to ACT now – TODAY! They can eliminate their contributions of GHGs to the atmosphere now if they eliminate their production of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides, which are major sources of GHGs!

In Agriculture, that means resorting to non-chemical farming. And, I Filipino Agriculturist say, that means Regenerative Agriculture (RA). With RA practiced all over the world, we can defeat Climate Change in no time at all!

Here’s my personal RA list:

1) Cover Cropping,  
2) Crop Rotation,  
3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),  
4) Green Manuring,  
5) Intercropping,  
6) Multiple Cropping,  
7) No-Till Farming,  
8) Organic Fertilization,  
9) Ratooning,  
10) Rotational Grazing,  
11) “Three Sisters” Planting,  
12) Trap Cropping, and  
13) Trash Mulching.

So! You don’t have to wait “for countries to update their nationally determined contributions (NDCs)” – whatever they are, however they are, the time to put to zero all NDCs was yesterday. How? Stop using chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides in Agriculture!

And since there are millions & millions of hectares of land under agriculture all over these Promised Land, when you stop applying farm chemicals all over that expanse of earth, Climate Change will start changing for the better!

Here’s my personal challenge:
If we get financing of a minimum PhP 1 million, we will start with the farmers of Asingan, Pangasinan, my hometown and province, via the Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative (NMPC). We will be applying all the 13 RA practices under strict observation. After 6 months, we will be ready with our first report.

Then via NMPC we will tell the world after just 1 cropping using the Regenerative Agriculture list of 13 practices – how much money saved and how much money earned. This is how Regenerative Agriculture will save us from Climate Change. We cannot wait for the results of the NDC Challenge!@517

Edwin Dante Reynoso Hilario, Photo Taken 30 October 2007, Birthday Of Nanay Amparo – But Where Is He Now?

Edwin Dante is one of our 13 children, I and my wife Amparo Reynoso, and his birthday is coming up: Friday, 11 April 2025. But we have not seen him for many, many years – the photo above was taken at home, by me with a Canon Powershot, 30 Oct 2006 – the 60^th birthday of the Nanay. It’s been 19 years since. Edwin, we miss you!

That may have been the last time we saw him – it’s been so long we have forgotten. We still love him that much, whatever happened to him.

Had he taken drugs? We don’t know – none of his brothers (4 others) and none of his sisters, have taken drugs. Me neither, and neither my wife. If he had taken drugs, that was entirely his own thinking.

But drugs or not, we have been trying to locate – it’s only now that I thought of social media as a call center.

His radiant face – look at the photograph again – reflects his hopeful thinking. He attended the Cahbriba Alternative School, which was founded by Cielito Habito, one of the Outstanding Young Men in Economics, and one of the bright heads of PH President Fidel Valdez Ramos, and a respected Inquirer.Net columnist today.

The Frank & Ampy Hilario family is now scattered all over half of the western world. Except for Jennifer, the all-around sister I may call her today, they all have their own families now. Tina the eldest lives in Toronto City, Dida in New York City, Dinggoy in Malolos City, Teresa in Quezon City, Jomar in Taguig City, Paul in Los Baños and so with the rest of us: Jennifer, Daphne, Neenah. (Ernest Charles+), and Graciela.

We miss Edwin so much, but we have had no resources to trace him – even while waiting for him to contact us somehow.

In vain up to now.

With all our children, I wasn’t that type of father who was close and played with sons & daughters – I have always been a writer and have not stopped being one up to now. (Didn’t you notice? The title of my blog is “The Editor In Chief” – having risen from writer to editor to desktop publisher from 1970 to 2008 – as a teacher, I taught myself my word processing, layouting, working with images, desktop publishing, up to blogging. I have not been close to any of our 13 children – the writer in me is almost always occupying my soul.

No, we don’t have a writer in the Dionisio Hilario-Sixta Agapito family. I was bitten by the writer’s bug probably in high school yet, at the Rizal Junior College (RJC) High School Department, as RJC had such a full library of books by renowned authors, and magazines: Post, Look, Life, National Geographic, and above all the Reader’s Digest! (Thank you for my writer’s life, Reader’s Digest – you opened my eyes to my genius.)

Back to the main topic: If you’ve seen Edwin, please message me on Facebook. We would be glad you did!@517

 

 

You Surfing The Internet Or Surfing For Your Favorite Movie Stars – Differently Today, The Truth Is Now Entirely In Your Hands!

From the media, very discouraging words from Inquirer.Net columnist Eleanor Pinugu ( “Undercurrent” Inquirer.Net):

“As long as disinformation remains unchecked, anyone with ample resources can easily rewrite history or reframe the truth as just one opinion among many. This is how the memory of the drug war and the suffering it caused could easily be distorted as fiction.”

“The drug war and the suffering it caused could easily be distorted as fiction” – yes, Ma’am! But only if the people do not use their brains and do not ask their neighbors or do not surf the Internet on their own, thinking independently.

I’m glad I have lived long enough, at 85, to enjoy the news & views that the digitalized media now offer to the people, to anyone. In these times, if you don’t surf enough searching for the truth, ketsup toyo!

Yes, some people are too rich, legally or not, to be able to distort history – but it’s still there: the digital world hides it from those who won’t investigate for themselves. (top image from r.search.yahoo.com)

Today, it’s not anymore “Your favorite newspaper or mine?” You simply open your computer (or cellphone) and surf, asking questions here and there – not to mention asking people via Gmail or Facebook – and you will be richly rewarded. The newspapers could not hide the truth anymore because there is the digital media for truth-seekers to turn to.

Yes, people will always try to rewrite history, but today only the desperate will try!

I don’t want to mention names, lest I find myself in court – I just want to disprove Ms Pinugu’s claim: “How the memory of the drug war and the suffering it caused could easily be distorted as fiction.”

No, but you have to give once-President Rodrigo Duterte all the millions of benefits of the doubt, as every accused deserves.

In the meantime, there is the Internet to surf!

How do you search?

“Philippines drug war” says Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org):

The Philippine drug war, also referred to as the Philippine war on drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign initiated during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, who served as President of the Philippines from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. The campaign reduced the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country, but has been marred by extrajudicial killings (EJK) allegedly perpetrated by the police and unknown assailants. By 2022, the number of drug suspects killed since 2016 was officially tallied by the government (at) 6,252; human rights organizations and academics, however, estimate that 12,000 to 30,000 civilians have been killed in the "anti-drug operations" carried out by the Philippine National Police and vigilantes (under Pres Duterte).

Is what we are reading in Wikipedia the truth and nothing but the truth? We can search some more. But already the data gives us a good idea how bad it has been.

We have to ask more questions: “Why have there been extra-judicial killings at all?”

Your guess is as good as mine!@517

Inquirer.Net Has 33 Positions Available For Job Applicants, Many Of Them Media – I Show Here Why It’s Extremely Necessary To Have A Technical Editor! (No Sir, I’m Not Applying)

Ah, even this new announcement from an old newspaper needs improvement! This appeared on the webpage of Inquirer.Net; never mind the date, never mind the author – I reproduce as I saw today, Saturday, 05 April 2025: “Job Openings. Inquirer.Net” inquirer.net). The list has these 33 positions:

ü Accounting Assistant

ü Account Executive

ü Account Executive | Cebu-based

ü Administrative Officer

ü Business Channel Editor

ü Editorial Assistant (Lifestyle)

ü Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

ü Junior Web Developer

ü Multimedia Producer (Graphics)

ü Multimedia Reporter

ü Multimedia Reporter (Business)

ü Multimedia Reporter (Technology)

ü Multimedia Specialist | Cebu based

ü Sales and Marketing Assistant | Cebu based

ü SEO Lead

ü Social Media Content Lead

ü Social Media Specialist

ü Video Editor

I note and wonder: Why is there no advertisement for a Knowledge Editor and/or Technical Editor? (Maybe an English Editor.) “Technical editors,” says InterviewGuy.com, interviewguy.com), “work with a variety of technical documents and materials, ensuring they are clear, concise, and effective in communicating complex information.” ((image from sg.images.search))

If you want the best media presentation, and/or report, or write-up, you have to have the best technical editor! One with quite a lot of experience, if not quite a lot of years – don’t forget: quite a lot of enthusiasm for discovering new things and ideas.

I found the following entry on a page of Inquirer.Net and it is quite revealing of how good/bad Inquirer.Net is in editing; see for yourself now –

We firmly believe that by giving everything that the farmer needs, we empower them to make a sustainable livelihood, create efficiencies and value, and therefore become globally competitive. Philippine agriculture is much broader than our efforts alone, but our experience demonstrates that change is possible.

I’m sorry to say this but there are 2 wongs in the above first sentence, especially these words:
“We firmly believe that  by giving everything that the farmer needs, we empower them…”

(1) Sorry! But wrong number; it should read … “the farmers need” (plural subject). (2) Also, “wrong number” – if we want the farmers to learn, we do not give everything that they need! That would be making them dependent on us always and ever.

But yes, we have to “empower them to make a sustainable livelihood, create efficiencies and value, and therefore become globally competitive.” That is why we need a Technical Editor!

I say, the best Editor does not only check your spellings and grammar but more so your knowledge – s/he advises you on what to do if your article or idea “Needs Improvement.”

But yes, I believe that we should empower the farmers and make them globally competitive.

And my advice is this: “We should teach the farmers first how to help themselves – before we give them anything (not everything) they need to become globally competitive. First things first!

That’s why I said you need a good Technical Editor.

In My Dear Philippines, There Is No Shortage Of Food – Only Shortage Of Thinking About Filipino Farming And Farmers!

Perspective: How high is the PH Secretary of Agriculture perched on his pedestal that he cannot see down there?

Francis Tiu Laurel Jr: “There is no shortage of food.”
Juan De La Cruz: “Yes, but there is shortage of money to buy food!”

Or, how limited is Sec Laurel Jr’s view that he cannot see far from where he sits?

Top image is the one shared on Facebook by friend Francisco Ramos on April 1 – April Fools’ Day. Who is/are the fool/s here?

There Is No Shortage Of Food. No, but there is shortage of money to buy  food! Perspective. (bottom image from The New Humanitarian, thenewhumanitarian.org)

Sec Laurel Jr  does not know that there are about 3 million Filipino farmers who are poor?

Now, how do we make farmers rich or, at least, not poor?

As an agriculture graduate (UPLB 1965), this is what I know about PH Agriculture – Farmers are using Chemical Agriculture (CA) as their mode of production. CA is very expensive; thus, 1 bag of urea (nitrogen fertilizer) costs P1,700. Following DA guidelines, a farmer applies a minimum 6 bags per hectare; that’s P10,200. Where is the poor farmer going to get that much money? From the local dealer, Chinese or Filipino: He borrows “Five-Six” – borrows 5 and pays back 6 – 20%. So, add that 20% to P10,200 – that’s what the farmer pays within 2 or 3 months. No wonder we have millions of poor farmers!

So, how do you solve the problem of poverty of Filipino farmers?

(1) Arithmetic – One way is to subsidize the farmers’ fertilizer costs. (Never mind if the rest of the richer Filipino taxpayers get a little poorer!)

(2) Change “Chemical Agriculture” to “Regenerative Agriculture” (RA) – There are 13 methods of RA that the farmer can choose from to reduce his expenses from thousands of pesos to only hundreds! The RA methods are:

(1) Cover Cropping,
(2) Crop Rotation,
(3) Farm Crops + Tree Crops (Agroforestry),
(4) Green Manuring,
(5) Intercropping,
(6) Multiple Cropping,
(7) No-Till Farming,
(8) Organic Fertilization,
(9) Ratooning,
(10) Rotational Grazing,
(11) “Three Sisters” Planting,
(12) Trap Cropping, and
(13) Trash Mulching.

Yes, I know it’s not that easy shifting from the way of chemicals to natural ways, but it has to be done. Or the poverty of farmers will stay. And Climate Change will continue to wreak havoc not only on our farms but also in our communities and in our houses.

Yes, there is an added benefit when we shift from CA to RA – Climate Change will weaken. Remember: From chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides come the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that accumulate high up in the Earth’s atmosphere, and the whole Earth becomes a Greenhouse keeping the heat down here – yes, it’s the GHGs that heat up the Earth, as they prevent Earth’s heat from dissipating into the unknown but instead reflect them back to Earth!

I am asking the highly seated PH Sec of Agriculture to reflect on all of the above!@517