Frank And Healthy Minds

First, let me be clear: I am in favor of hybrid rice as a good part of the solution for the Philippines to attain rice self-sufficiency – I hope this year, 2021. I have already written about it; try “How Good Are Hybrid Rices In The Philippines [1] ?” (06 January 2021, BraveNewWorld@PH ) Today, Sunday, 10 January 2021, browsing on Facebook, I notice that the hybrid rice companies in my country are not minding their own business! I mean, they are not actively assisting the farmers taking care of their plantings. I found that out when on Facebook, I scanned the page “Usapang Hybrid Rice” (Talking Hybrid Rice), “Group by Tatang Juan” (above, top image). At this Facebook page, I read the entries and noticed that the farmers’ questions, answers and comments seemed innocent – but they were not. It has something to do with this: The hybrid rice companies in the Philippines are not providing adequate advice and information to farmers. And that is not good – it may even be dangerous. Her

The Golden State Warriors were losing, then Stephen Curry exploded, the final scores being 115-105 Warriors vs LA Clippers Friday, 08 January 2020 [1]  ( Monte Poole , NBCSports.com ). The Warriors were behind 85-63 with 3:15 remaining in the 3 rd Q, but a true warrior finds his way to victory. Curry contributed 38 points. Mr Poole says the lesson is: “Do not accept premature burial, no matter the skill of those wielding the shovels.” The Clippers were shocked. In an entirely different world, I am not quitting, but here is my personal shock: Today, I realize that Conservation Agriculture/Farming has been losing all the time – the resources may be/are being conserved, but the poor farmers are not! Saturday, I saw this Facebook sharing, “Solving South Asia’s Sustainability Issues Will Require A Systems Approach To Crop Managemen t [2] ” by Alison Doody (17 December 2020, CIMMYT.org ). Miss Alison writes: New research by an international team of scientists, including scientists from

It’s called “The SAAD Program,” Special Area for Agricultural Development, and it has been in existence since 2017. Above, happy farmer faces show SAAD progress and promise. (Above, “Happiness” image from the book, Perspectives, subtitled SAAD’s Capacity To View Things On Agriculture And Fishery In Their Relations And Relative Importance, 2020.) The word “saad" means “promise” in Visayan and “commitment” in Masbate. Program Director Myer G Mula says, SAAD “aims to help marginalized farmers and fishers of the 30 poorest of the poor provinces move out of poverty.” Mr Mula also says: The strategy of the program is to increase food production and the establishment of community enterprises by providing the appropriate technology, marketing, and other support services for animals (livestock and poultry), crops (food and industrial), and fisheries (capture, aqua, and pond culture) to individuals, households and organized farmers and fisherfolk… It looks like SAAD has every enterprise

Happy? You have to think for yourself. Nobody can tell you what to think. So, think! I’m a creative writer, so my mind is always full of beautiful, as well as awful ideas. When I revise, I delete the awful. My New Year’s Resolution is to wage a revolution in the minds of people for their own Happy Thinking when they write to start with. Above, the image of Science Solitaire is saying you will make yourself a lot of New Year’s Resolution and will fail all of them. Negative. Yes if you don’t know how to reinforce a habit you are trying to cultivate. It’s okay. You don’t have to think the way I think; but you have to write happy if you want readers to read you. Above, Rappler’s choice of an article about New Year Resolutions, by Maria Isabel Garcia, is good but not good enough. About 1,350 words including title; it’s all about habits, but it never asks and therefore never answers the question: Why should you cultivate a habit at all? Miss Maria says: “1. Habits are our brain’s

“Towards a modern & industrialized Philippine agriculture” – is not PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar dreaming?! “ONE DA.” As head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, Mr Dar came out 04 January with such a HUGE department-wide pronouncement. “DA lines up key strategies to steer agri-fishery growth and transformation in 2021” (image above from Facebook post). Downloadable via the DA website, the18-page PowerPoint presentation has these: Vision: A food secure & resilient Philippines with empowered & prosperous farmers & fisherfolk. Mission: To empower farmers and fisherfolk through collective action and attract private sector investments with inclusive agribusiness towards agricultural efficiencies, productivity, sustainability and resilience. Twin Goals: Masaganang ANI at mataas na KITA. (“Bountiful HARVESTS & Bounteous EARNINGS” – FAH translation .) PREAMBLE The key strategies will accelerate transformation towards a modern & industrialized Philip

Challenge To Advanta, Bayer, Pioneer & SL Agritech – My Conservation Farming To Compare Your Hybrid Rices! I am convinced that hybrid rice can help my country tremendously in economic terms; now, I want to know how good are those varieties where. So I want to manage myself a field comparison of costs & returns. I want a techno-demo. (“1.1.1.1.” image, https://1.1.1.1/dns) (hybrid rice imag e [1] ,  Sultan Kudarat, Agriculture.com.ph ) Which is the #1 Hybrid Rice in the Philippines? It’s not the total yield – it’s the net income! Mordor Intelligence puts these 4 as major players in hybrid rice in the Philippines [2] :  Bayer, Advanta, Pioneer, SL Agritech; now I want to challenge these companies: To generate data, your hybrid rice grown with my conservation farming. Let’s see how technically & economically & environmentally & socially sustainable is it when grown with least cost. For techno-demo, your place, not mine. Your company will spend for 1 hectare to pl

Yes, from The Wizard of Oz! The unexpected news from Kabankalan City reminds me of Kansas City and, according to Kay Vandette, “The Wizard Of Oz (Which) Was The Most Influential Film Ever, Study Finds [1] , ” 29 November 2018), earth.com ).  (Wizard of Oz image [2] from pngfind.com ) Today in the Philippines, The Wizard of Oz is influencing us still, this time in our agriculture, would you believe? The film is based on Frank L Baum’s 1900 children’s fantasy novel, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz. The whole fantastic story happened in Kansas. Today we have the Kansas State University, KSA, as the Witch’s Castle, where we can find The Wizard of Oz, who is now teaching us what we think we already know: Agriculture! A research professor at the KSA who happens to be Filipino, Manny Reyes , in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, has introduced at the Central Philippines State University, CPSU, in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, Conservation Fa

I’m an unusual WFH, writer from home. Above image: screen grab from BraveNewWorld@PH , my blog. Pasted head of me taken 15 July 2014, 6 years ago, by Yja Hilario with Lolo’s Lumix  FZ100 camera (painterized by Lolo). I have just finished going over the titles of my essays all of 2020 in this blog of mine, BraveNewWorld@PH, https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com, and I see that I published about 400 essays last year alone. I turned 80 on 17 September 2020 – how many communicators are as blog productive as I am in a dull subject like Agriculture? And to write each essay, each 517 words, I never go out and interview people?! (I call each one “essay” because, like this, it is written in the personal, me-to-you style.) It’s called creativity. And here are essays selected from my daily blogposts last year, 2020, from January to December: 21 January 2020: “How Are PH Media Treating The DA And Secretary William Dar? Poorly!” 16 February 2020: “PH Public Science And Public Service – More Ba

Is the inland fishery of Taal Lake going the way of Laguna Lake? Laguna Lake as a fish world died long ago; today, are the death throes of Taal Lake as a fish universe coming soon? I was Managing Editor (not the title given) of The ICLARM Newsletter in 1981 even as it published a technical paper that detailed how Laguna Lake was dying . Reading that ICLARM report, I believed that Laguna Lake actually was already dead at that time. Time proved me right. Now comes the non-technical report by Gaea Katreena Cabico  titled “Saving Taal Lake, Preserving The Endemic Tawili s [1] ” (31 December 2020, PhilStar.com ). Miss Gaea says that in 2018, the International Union for Conservation of Nature “listed the… tawilis as endangered.” In fact, the assessment was made by PH scientists who said the fish harvest has been declining since 1998 “due to wanton fishing, illegal use of active fishing gears, proliferation of fish cages, and deterioration of water quality in the lake.” Tawilis “endangere

  Magically, I am looking at the multiplication of the Garden of Eden as a future perfect picture of Agriculture in my island paradise called the Philippines. Above, you see the “Garden of Eden” ima ge [1]  I copied from Eden-Gallery.com , which I multiplied 10 times. Thus inspired, for improving Philippine Agriculture, I’m thinking of the Ten Commandments of the Modern Garden of Eden as: Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! Plant! And what is to be planted? Not is, but are to be planted: Flowers Fruit Trees Ornamentals Vegetables. Those are crops in the list of the Science of Horticulture. In other words, the way I look at it now: Horticulture is going to be the Savior of Philippine Agriculture! Flowers ( Floriculture ), Fruit trees ( Pomology ), Ornamentals ( Ornamental Horticulture ), Vegetables ( Olericulture ). Why do I call them Gardens of Edens ? Plural and plural. You can have your own version of Garden , and I’m thinking of Woman as Gardener