Frank And Healthy Minds

  Secretary of Agriculture William Dar says, “Online is the new byword in food security” (14 December 2020, DA press release). That is on the occasion of the launching of Deliver-E on Monday, 14 December 2020, with additional P 20 million grant, on which USAID Philippines Mission Director Patrick Wesner sai d [1]  (Catherine Talavera, “USAID Allots P 20 Million For Deliver-E Expansion,” Philstar.com ): This expansion seeks to improve user interface, onboard more farmer cooperatives and institutional buyers, and integrate supply and demand analytics functions that can help inform government policies and interventions to strengthen the country’s agribusiness value chain. Miss Catherine says: Deliver-E is a digital platform that connects farmers to buyers through an efficient and transparent end-to-end market-based system. It operates through a sophisticated blockchain technology developed by a Filipino tech startup, Insight Supply Chain Solutions. In Deliver-E, the user-int...

  Led by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, the Department of Agriculture, DA, now has the Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs, KAYA , a loan program for farming or fishery offered to eligible young borrowers between 18 and 30 years of age, male or female [1] ( DA.gov.ph ). Tough luck! I say. For entrepreneurship, you need some knowledge of math and science and – lo and behold! The results of the 2019 “Trends In International Mathematics And Science Study” show this: “PH Lowest Among 58 Countries In Math, Science – Global Assessmen t [2] ”  (Bonz Magsambol, 09 December 2020, Rappler.com ). Those are Grade 4 pupils; when they reach Senior High School, same story. Dull in Math, Dull in Science. It’s the system, stupe! In entrepreneurship, you need some math, some science. So, where will the DA get our promising young entrepreneurs? I teacher say we have to produce them by all intelligent means possible. (“youth entrepreneurs” image [3] from Youthentrepreneurs.org ) I Ag...

It’s the perspective, folks. With Covid-19, you are mistaking the cause of the disease with the disease itself! From Indonesia, Rizki Fachriansyah writes “Scientists Call For Integrated One Health Approach To Climate, Disease Mitigation [1] ” (09 December 2020, climatechange.searca.org ): Recent studies show that the increased transmission of zoonotic diseases – diseases that spread from animals to humans – is largely caused by man-made disturbances to natural ecosystems, including human encroachment of the natural habitats of wild animals. No Sir! The perspective is erroneous– the coronavirus that spreads from some wild thing to humans is not the disease ; rather, with favorable conditions obtaining, the virus causes the Covid-19 disease to develop within the human body. Note: It is the prior health condition of your body that enables or disables the virus to cause the disease. When it comes to human health, it is not the health of the forest that it is dependent on. And upon wha...

The 2 words that attracted my attention to the news link-shared on Facebook by Christine Nabor Ferrer were “Sustainable Livelihoods.” Written by Nathan P Felix 15 December 2020, the news is “SEARCA Signs MOU With Tarlac Agricultural Universit y [1] ”( Searca.org ). The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, was virtual between SEARCA Director Glenn B Gregorio and TAU President Max P Guillermo, as witnessed by Joselito G Florendo, SEARCA Deputy Director for Administration, and Christina N Ferrer, TAU External Linkages & International Affairs Director. Mr Felix says that in elaborating on the MOU between SEARCA and TAU: Dr Gregorio emphasized the importance of collaboration and partnership to  realize its mission to elevate the quality of life of  agricultural  families through sustainable livelihoods and access to modern networks and innovative markets in this time of pandemic. SEARCA is the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study & Research in Agricultur...

What are Filipino English writers doing? Nobody writes in support of farm families, and there are millions of them! To borrow from Shakespeare, I write not to bury Caesar but to praise him. People, did you know we have 6 National Writers Workshops? At least the ones I can count: 1)    Ateneo National Writers Workshop (Loyola Heights, QC) 2)    Iligan National Writers Workshop (Iligan City) 3)    IYAS La Salle National Writers Workshop (Bacolod City) 4)    Silliman University National Writers Workshop (Dumaguete City) 5)    UP National Writers Workshop (Diliman, QC) 6)    UST National Writers Workshop (Baguio City) That means we Filipinos are encouraging our writers in English in the fields of fiction. Now then, let us listen to National Artist for Literature F Sionil Jose delivering his keynote in the 27 th Iligan National Writers Worksho p [1] h eld 30 November to 05 December 2020 at the University of San Carlos, at t...

I know someone who is always looking for the Negative in the developing story of PH Agriculture, even before Covid-19. Me? I’m an Ilocano, original aboriginal. I blog Positive for my country’s Agriculture, not simply Farmers. In Oscar Wilde’s language, I see the Doughnut while the other fellow sees the Hole! So, I want to encourage people to blog for Agriculture. I’m 80 – if I can blog, why can’t you?   I’m a thought-provoker in Agriculture, mind you – and now, mind that the name of this blog of mine is: Brave New World@PH. It now has 659 short essays of 517 words each – yes, I’m always counting. For 2020 alone, I have been blogging every single day since New Year’s Day. “This Love Of Mine” is a song sung by my favorite Frank Sinatra. I love it because I can sing it sounding like him, and of course he’s my namesake. “You have gone” – You there is Freedom of Movement . But as a creative thinker, I don’t really mind. What I mind is that I seem to be the only blogger positive for ...

  If you are meeting your class online somehow, you are receiving your remuneration but you are wasting everyone’s time, including your own! Chances are, there is no learning at all. If you are a mentor, teacher, instructor, or tutor in any subject, science or specialty, and you are using textual, visual or video materials, chances are you are unaware that you are not educating people at all – you are either entertaining them when you should not, or you are throwing bits & pieces of knowledge into the brains that you think are bottomless! Today, Saturday, 12 December 2020, a Facebook post tells me “Remote Learning Isn’t Workin g [1] ” (ANN, Patriotpost.us ). ANN says: Earlier this year, fears over the coronavirus shuttered classrooms across the country as school systems opted for makeshift online learning. At the time, the stopgap measure seemed like the only way to keep our kids both safe and engaged with their schooling. That’s the US – but it’s true for the Philippines t...