ASA KA PA!

Today Saturday, 10 April 2021, Manila PH: “Happy Birthday, Sir William Dar , Secretary of Agriculture! We wish you more happy birthdays to come!” Mr Dar was Director General (DG) 2000 to 2014 of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which is based in India. 15 years – the Indians had so much faith in him as science leader, so why not us Filipinos? Know that when Mr Dar became DG of ICRISAT, the institute belonged to the bottom of the list ( kulelat ) among 15 international agricultural research centers under CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research), including IRRI. When Mr Dar retired in December 2014, ICRISAT was already #1, having won many awards and increased its budget over the years. The Secret? Team ICRISAT . The Spirit behind? Mr Dar as Servant Leader . I know all that because I was international consulting writer (WFH) from 2007 to 2014, maintaining the blog iCRiSAT Watch ( Blogspot.com ), publishing a t...

Above is the front cover of a coffee-table book published by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) titled The Filipino Farmer Is Bankable . The inset logos show that the ACPC is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA). The inset text says: With credit, the ACPC looks forward to the day millions of poor farmers and fishers, along with their households, have become as resilient as the bamboo, that is, pliant, sturdy, resistant to stress, can withstand harsh weather, and thrives even on infertile grounds. Yes, the ACPC now knows our farmers are “Bankable!” – given the ACPC’s financial assistance and supervision to individuals and groups. That is the lesson I personally learned in my field trips and subsequently singlehandedly digitally producing the above ACPC coffee-table book subtitled Celebrating 25 Years Of The ACPC. (I myself celebrated when that book came out.) Late January in 2012, Executive Director of the ACPC Jovita Corpuz , from out of the blue ...

This is both a Glad and Sad Story. Glad: The Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) has maintained its ISO 9001:2015 QMS Certification [1] as of October 2020. Sad: Many a poor Filipino farmer remains the loser in the credit card game played in the villages. Well, farmers don’t realize it as credit – they just know it’s Fast Cash , no questions asked, no collateral, no waiting in line. We call it “Five-Six” – it’s really a “Borrow Now Pay Later Plan” – borrow 5 pay 6, 20% interest within 100 days, even within 24 hours. Fast cash for the borrower, fat cash for the lender. Aren’t both happy?! Isn’t that a failure of credit consciousness in the Philippines? Isn’t that a failure of an agency to promote credit worthiness in both borrowers and lenders? No, not so fast! Because, right now, there is no single public agency tasked to promote the use and demote the abuse of farm credit in the Philippines. The nearest body I can think of is the ACPC, but my googling tells me I’m wrong. ...

On Facebook, PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar quietly shares some good news in Philippine Agriculture: “India Vows Support For Agriculture [1] ”  by Eireene Jairee Gomez (27 March 2021, Manila Times ): Speaking at the General Membership Meeting of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Fisheries Inc (PCAFI) on Friday, Shambhu Kumaran , Ambassador of India to the Philippines, recognized the old connections between the two countries, which (seek) to build up people-driven and people-centered partnerships. The Indian government has vowed to strengthen (its) long-standing cooperation with the Philippines, particularly in the areas of intensifying technological transfer in the country’s agriculture and (fisheries). Old connections – Here are a few items of note: Filipino culture has “Indian influenc es [2] ”  ( Wikipedia ). About 30% of the Tagalog language is loanwords from Sanskrit; the uses of brass, bronze, copper and tin in the Philippine decorative arts and me...

310 hectares of public land in Pampanga currently under the jurisdiction of the Pampanga State Agricultural University (PSAU) are in an intellectual managerial deadlock, having to choose between 2 agrarian schemes: ü Agrarian Ownership? The Department of Agrarian Reform (the DAR) distributes the lands to new individual farmers.   ü Agrarian Stewardship? PSAU retains formal stewardship with profit sharing with countless landless farmers in such projects as: agroforestry, bamboo, coconut, coffee, genebank forestry, goat, mixed orchard, mulberry, silvipasture, and tamarind production. I think like that with the news story by William L Beltran , “PSAU Appeals Retention Of CARP-Able Landholding, Offers Stewardship [1] ”  (26 March 2021, PIA.gov.ph ). I can feel the anguish of PSAU’s President Honorio Soriano Jr . The 376 hectares of land owned and titled to PSAU have been, according to Mr Beltran, “validated by (the DAR) as coverable under the Land Reform Program of the...

As of Easter Sunday, 04 April 2021, as a creative writer who started publishing himself, in print in 1975, or 55 years ago, and in digital media in 2000, or 20 years ago, I have blogged digitally alone about 7,000 essays – long , up to 7,000 words; and short , exactly 517 words, including title. Extra creative! My very last essay, which I blogged Sunday, “2 Leadership Lessons From Apayao Women – Help Yourself By Helping Other s [1] ” ( Asa Ka Pa! ), is most original and extraordinary – so far, it’s my best! But it started in my head nothing like that. Lesson: Your best is still to come. There’s hope! In the top image, Akin Olokun says, “People come into your life and go, but you will always have to live with yourself. Make yourself pleasant, positive, and peaceful.” The bottom image says, “The great gift of Easter is Hope” – Basil Hume , Archbishop of Westminster, who “presided over one of the most turbulent periods of Catholicism in Brita in [2] . ” The great British poet Alexan...