Saka Gandahan – PH Youth Aggie Entrepreneurship Learning From Danish Folk High School

My coinage: Saka Gandahan has 3 meanings. (1) Farming made beautiful. (2) Then, make it beautiful. (3) In its beauty…

In 2 words, Saka Gandahan is a summary of what I’m thinking of how to teach Filipino youth aggie entrepreneurship, one of the small/big dreams of PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar following his “The New Thinking for Agriculture.” I explain below.

The main image above is that of a long-forgotten Danish folk high school (photograph[1] from Projects Exeter), vintage 1916. I myself had forgotten that I wrote about this type of school already 9 years ago (see my essay, “Reductionist, Long Education. The UP College Of Agriculture, 1909[2],” 05 September 2011, A Magazine Called Love). Today, I’m going to use it as a lesson for an aggie entrepreneurship course that can be offered via the State Colleges & Universities,SCUs, in the Philippines, numbering at least 100[3] (Wikipedia).

In my 2011 essay, I mention that at the University of Wisconsin, there was this holistic, non-reductionist short course of 2 years. The #6 objective of that short course sums it all for me:

To uplift the farming interests of the state, to make better farmers, and more intelligent, useful citizens.

Beautiful!

Now, what is the lesson for Saka Gandahan there? In class and field, a presentation can come out like this, comparing equivalent techniques currently used in agriculture:

1.     Trash farming vs conventional

2.     Direct seeding vs transplanting

3.     1-month vs 4-month transplants

4.     Single seedling vs bunch transplanting

5.     Organic vs inorganic fertilizer

6.     Natural vs chemical disease control

7.     Natural vs chemical weed control.

Isn’t that a short but beautiful list of what farming is all about?!

Remember: My list is simple, not exhaustive for entrepreneurship training. I cannot make a list of topics for complete entrepreneurship training because I am not familiar with the matter. Besides, I’m just discussing the How, not the What, When & Why.

And now, you may ask:

Can I be more specific with Saka Gandahan?

One example. Comparing trash farming with conventional – In trash farming, you use the rotavator, while in conventional farming, you use the disc plow (hand tractor). Note that the rotavator blades, shaped L & J at the end, cut differently from the tractor disc blades – the rotavator cuts soil and weeds and mixes them all in one rotary motion, while the disc plow digs into the earth and throws the chunks to the side. With the tractor blades, the soil below is brought to the top and exposed. Not with the rotavator.

There is a profound difference there! The rotavator builds a mulch all over the field with the soil and weeds & crop refuse mixed – your organic matter waiting for your crops! Thus, the rotavator controls the weeds and fertilizes your field at the same time. While the tractor blades expose the soil to the sun, drying it up.

Rotavating your soil enriches it with plant nutrients and maintains the soil moisture if you truly understand the technology!@517

 


[1]https://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/folkhighschool.html

[2]https://amagazinecalledlove.blogspot.com/2011/09/reductionist-long-education-up-college.html

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Association_of_State_Universities_and_Colleges

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