In Onions, There’s Strength, In P Millions! – How To Make That Ideal Real? Do The IMOD

IMOD. William Dar/Manong Willie as head of the Department of Agriculture, DA, avidly leads his “New Thinking for Agriculture” where an embedded ideal is Inclusive Market-Oriented Development, IMOD. If you want farmers to rise from poverty and stay up there, you must do the IMOD. 

IMOD as the ideal for local & national growth was developed at ICRISAT, based in India, when Manong Willie was Director General, from January 2000 to December 2014, 15 years – IMOD as ideal became real. So, if you want your farmers to be blessed with “Masaganang Ani, Mataas na Kita” (Bounteous Harvest, Bountiful Income, my translation), the current mantra of the DA, you must do the IMOD. With IMOD, the development is real – distributed to everyone, especially the poor farmers.

IMOD as ideal: “Find the ideal in something not ideal” – Robert Denning[1]. As a farmer, is it ideal to think rich? You have to think rich; you also have think real.

Now, let’s consider Eva Visperas’ 09 January 2020 article – “If You Want To Get Rich, Plant Onions[2]” with her teaser:

Onion farmers in Bayambang, Pangasinan are now “millionaires” because of the price spike, as red onions, with a farmgate price of P120 a kilo, are sold in the market at P200, Artemio Buezon, Municipal Agriculturist (says) this has been going on for a month and is expected to extend up to next month.

“If you want to get rich, plant onions” – you know, that reflects the DA’s slogan Bounteous Harvest, Bountiful Income.

Ms Eva’s title style and run of story is not unique; it is old journalism. It is unique only in that Ms Eva promises:

“If you want to get rich, plant onions.”

She is promising millions. No Ma’am, it’s not that simple. Some PH journalists, male and female, make it that simple. In Manong Willie’s Bounteous Harvest, Bountiful Income – there is a caveat: You must make sure IMOD is working for the farmers. Not permanently displayed, but the caveat is there; to bring out the ideal, you must deal with the real.

In Bayambang, Pangasinan, where Ms Eva reports from, there are 1,000 onion farmers! In other words, when some farmers saw that other farmers were getting rich planting onions, they became onion farmers too. Because they were only looking at the rich harvests and richer incomes.

When you multiply the growers by the hundreds, what happens to the supply – and the price?

You know what? “If you want to get rich, plant onions” is also working in favor of the merchants!

The merchants are the ones dictating the price and, sooner or later, the individualism of the growing-rich farmers will work against them.

I remember Manong Willie recommending that farmers work with cooperatives to safeguard their concerns, most especially fair prices and sustainable incomes.

If you want your village to get rich, it must follow IMOD via your cooperative(s).

There is no report of any cooperative working for the Bayambang onion farmers – this is dangerous to their health!@517

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[1] http://www.picturequotes.com/find-the-ideal-in-something-not-ideal-quote-152083

[2]https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/01/09/1983356/if-you-want-get-rich-plant-onions