Beauty & Brains Farming

As an agriculturist and a communicator for village development, I love the “Young Farmers Challenge” (YFC) of the PH Department of Agriculture (DA), YFC being born in 2021. The deeper I look at the YFC, I see that the challenge is actually double-edged: “Learn to love farming” and “Learn to make it more rewarding.” Bella Cariaso says, “Young Farmers Program Kicks Off” (01 Sept 2022, Manila Times , manilatimes.net ). Last year, 2021, Rosette Adel says the DA “launched a program that seeks to provide financial grant assistance to youth interested in the agri-fishery sector” (11 June 2021,   “DA Seeks Competitive Youth For ‘Young Farmers Challenge’ Agribusiness Grant,” PhilStar Global , Philstar.com ) – but Ms Rosette herself does not provide the exact date of launching of the YFC; we leave it at that. More importantly, I note that Ms Bella says the YFC is attracting the youth to farming in any of the following areas: production, processing, packaging, fabrication of farm machinery,

Ma'am Leni has a unique hand gesture in this Facebook sharing of Ann Gatmaytan of Radikal by Joseph Vicente Dimla that quotes, “True leaders have a servant’s heart” (08 Sept 2022). Maria Leonor “Leni” Gerona-Robredo , ex-Vice President of the Philippines and founder & inspiration of Angat Buhay Foundation, has a servant’s heart. Another way of putting that is this: Ma'am Leni is a Servant Leader. “Service is the heart of our business, and people are its soul” – Morley Gold Standard ( morleynet.com ). I sensed that as her personal business, and yes, I voted for Leni Robredo as my President in the 09 May 2022 PH elections (see my essay, “Ma'am Leni, Angat Buhay, Remembering Adam & Eve: Here Is How The Females Can Show The Males How To Take Very Good Care Of Their Garden Of Eden!” 17 Aug 2022, Beauty & Brains Farming , blogspot.com ). Launched in Oct 2016; as of 21 Dec 2021, “Angat Buhay” has partnered with 372 organizations, mobilizing P 520 million wort

Time for the girls teach the boys how to farm using their brains! In Agriculture so far, the boys have shown they are not using their brains, insisting on applying chemical fertilizers, which disastrously results in Climate Change! I began writing about Angat Buhay Leni Robredo 2 years ago (see my essay, “In Looking At The Crown Of Thorns, I Found The Clowns” 03 April 2020, Beauty & Brains Farming . blogspot.com ): There was this news that some high PH government officials wanted to probe Vice President Leni Robredo for “competing against” PH agencies in providing much-needed assistances during this coronavirus lockdown, and Marigs Laririt shared a picture-story on Facebook quoting Ms Leni as saying, “I didn’t know it was competition. I didn’t see any competitors!” Ms Marigs says, “Ay, parang friends ko kung sumagot si Mam.” (Ay, with Mam, it’s just like my friends answering back.) Ms Leni’s is a two-handed backslap, and you can imagine the lady laughing! I say: She is the h

Why is it that Filipino rice farmers insist on the expensive chemical fertilizers when they can use much-cheaper organic fertilizers and get higher yields? Asking for a friend! Congress doesn’t care about Climate Change, only about Filipino farmers. Last June, Catherine Talavera says, lawmakers were asked to allocate “ P 27 Billion To Fund Fertilizer Subsidies” (01 June 2022, Philippine Star , philstar.com ): The government would need to provide around P 27 billion worth of fertilizer subsidies for… rice farmers to support their production this cropping season as fertilizer prices continue to rise, the Federation of Free Farmers [FFF] said. FFF National Manager Raul Montemayor said that a P 10,000 per hectare subsidy is needed to cover the increases in the prices of fertilizers. Note: The P 10,000/ha is only to cover the increases in fertilizer cost. Mr Montemayor says a farmer uses 6 bags of fertilizer. “If a farmer uses six bags of fertilizer, and the cost has increased by

Girls Vs Boys, using intelligent science with organic vs chemical farming, low cost vs high costs, high returns vs low returns – with the rotavator reinvented by me and Angat Buhay! (“Lifting Life”) I blogged this Wednesday morning at 6 AM, “Ma'am Leni, Here Is My Proposal For You – Love For Food, Healthy Organic Foods Grown By Girls, Starting With Village Sagñay!” (07 Sept 2022, CoViD21, covid21fah.blogspot.com ). I’m proposing a reinvented rotavator. But first, let’s see where I'm coming from through the eyes of others: You have to empower farmers. Farmbetter says, (undated, “Empower Farmers To Build Resilience To Climate Change,” farmbetter , farmbetter.io ): In 2019 we created farmbetter – a mobile app… to put tailored and actionable know-how directly in the hands of the farmer. That “farmbetter” is artificial intelligence (AI) in aid of conventional agriculture – nice, but hardly anti-Climate Change! IoT For All says (“Smart Farming: The Future Of Agriculture,”

PH girls are minding the stores and PH boys are minding the farms – but not growing healthy, organic foods! So? So, let the girls teach the boys how to grow the food of their lives! I note that Angat Buhay village in your part of PH (06 June 2021, “Sagñay, Camarines Sur launches social housing project, Angat Buhay Village,” Bicol Express News , bicolexpress.news ). You VP Ma'am Leni (in photo) graced the groundbreaking ceremony at Barangay Del Carmen, the site for 50 houses for families who had been dwelling in hazard-prone places. So, with my proposal, we will have a perfect combination: healthy villages growing healthy foods! Above, already we have organic foods in Naga City such as offered by “Red Platter” ( bicolhomepage.wordpress.com ). The whole Angat Buhay Village should grow their own organic foods – for villagers to eat healthy, and to sell much more to the public. Good food, better cash. Initially, the 50 families settling in Del Carmen Angat Buhay Village do not