Saka Gandahan – PH Youth Aggie Entrepreneurship Learning From Danish Folk High School

My coinage: Saka Gandahan has 3 meanings. (1) Farming made beautiful. (2) Then, make it beautiful. (3) In its beauty…

In 2 words, Saka Gandahan is a summary of what I’m thinking of how to teach Filipino youth aggie entrepreneurship, one of the small/big dreams of PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar following his “The New Thinking for Agriculture.” I explain below.

The main image above is that of a long-forgotten Danish folk high school (photograph[1] from Projects Exeter), vintage 1916. I myself had forgotten that I wrote about this type of school already 9 years ago (see my essay, “Reductionist, Long Education. The UP College Of Agriculture, 1909[2],” 05 September 2011, A Magazine Called Love). Today, I’m going to use it as a lesson for an aggie entrepreneurship course that can be offered via the State Colleges & Universities,SCUs, in the Philippines, numbering at least 100[3] (Wikipedia).

In my 2011 essay, I mention that at the University of Wisconsin, there was this holistic, non-reductionist short course of 2 years. The #6 objective of that short course sums it all for me:

To uplift the farming interests of the state, to make better farmers, and more intelligent, useful citizens.

Beautiful!

Now, what is the lesson for Saka Gandahan there? In class and field, a presentation can come out like this, comparing equivalent techniques currently used in agriculture:

1.     Trash farming vs conventional

2.     Direct seeding vs transplanting

3.     1-month vs 4-month transplants

4.     Single seedling vs bunch transplanting

5.     Organic vs inorganic fertilizer

6.     Natural vs chemical disease control

7.     Natural vs chemical weed control.

Isn’t that a short but beautiful list of what farming is all about?!

Remember: My list is simple, not exhaustive for entrepreneurship training. I cannot make a list of topics for complete entrepreneurship training because I am not familiar with the matter. Besides, I’m just discussing the How, not the What, When & Why.

And now, you may ask:

Can I be more specific with Saka Gandahan?

One example. Comparing trash farming with conventional – In trash farming, you use the rotavator, while in conventional farming, you use the disc plow (hand tractor). Note that the rotavator blades, shaped L & J at the end, cut differently from the tractor disc blades – the rotavator cuts soil and weeds and mixes them all in one rotary motion, while the disc plow digs into the earth and throws the chunks to the side. With the tractor blades, the soil below is brought to the top and exposed. Not with the rotavator.

There is a profound difference there! The rotavator builds a mulch all over the field with the soil and weeds & crop refuse mixed – your organic matter waiting for your crops! Thus, the rotavator controls the weeds and fertilizes your field at the same time. While the tractor blades expose the soil to the sun, drying it up.

Rotavating your soil enriches it with plant nutrients and maintains the soil moisture if you truly understand the technology!@517

 


[1]https://projects.exeter.ac.uk/RDavies/folkhighschool.html

[2]https://amagazinecalledlove.blogspot.com/2011/09/reductionist-long-education-up-college.html

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Association_of_State_Universities_and_Colleges

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Knorr Of Big Business Unilever Thinks Big Business Regenerative Agriculture – My Tiny Country PH Also Should!

Image
“Knorr’s plan for 50 regenerative agriculture projects is predicted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water use by an estimated 30% while improving biodiversity, soil health and livelihoods.” That is regenerative agriculture (RA) news by Julian Cirineo (05 Nov 2021, “Unilever Wants To Rethink How Farms Work To Secure Food And Resources For The Future,” Rappler , rappler.com ). Note: 50 (not 5 only) RA projects to improve greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and water use by 30% – plus improving biodiversity, soil health and livelihoods. Note the last 7 words in the above paragraph. How can RA improve biodiversity? RA requires that the farmer practices multiculture (a few or many crops grown at the same time in the same place), where monoculture (such as rice-only or corn-only) is the practice – the biodiversity improves crop health because of the ensuing balance of nature, such as some organisms feed on other organisms that would otherwise become pests or cause diseases. RA is your
Read more

In Looking At The Crown Of Thorns, I Found The Clowns

Image
We could use a surprise sense of humor!  Yes, especially on the wide problematic fields of Agriculture. 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.) That is a two-handed backslap, and you can imagine the lady laughing! She is the humor-monger; they are the clowns. Today is Friday, 03 April 2020 and in one account ( Wikipedia ), Friday the 3 rd of April was crucifixion of Jesus and his crowning of thorns [1] . (images: Crown of Thorns [2]  from St Anthony Messenger , 1 st clown [3]  from The Guardian , 2 nd clown [4]  from Shutterstock ) About the living clowns I
Read more

“Natural Farming” – Aggie Journalists, We Must Be Careful With The Terms We Use!

Image
Look at the contrasting images: Which one is correct in claiming what is being practiced is “natural farming”? Top Image: This one accompanies the Anonymous WWF-Philippines story, “Mindanao Farmers Start Off the Year with Natural Farming Systems Technology” published online December 2019 [1] . The World Wide Fund, WWF, is a very credible international source of knowledge on conservation, right? Not this time. Very clearly, you can see the white plastic mulch covering the furrows and bare soil in-between them. Mr or Ms Anonymous, the plastic mulch is not natural. The soil not covered in-between furrows is not natural. So much soil bare, not natural, allowing so much natural water wasted because it had evaporated from the unprotected, hot soil surface! That is not conservation; that is not natural. The term “natural” is used here very carelessly . Aggie journalists, wake up! How come I noticed all that immediately when I saw the photograph? Because I learned my organic farming more t
Read more