For UP Los Baños To Be Really Pro-Farmer, Here’s How It Can Do Extension

The functions of the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture, UPCA, now UP Los Baños, have always been 3: Instruction, Research, Extension.

Pertinently, my photograph taken at UP Los Baños campus on Valentine’s Day 2019 – note the arms extended. The Oblation is saying, “With Love, Everything I have is Yours!”

Today, Friday, 27 November 2020, I google for “UPLB Development Extension” and I get the webpage https://ovcre.uplb.edu.ph, “Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Development, Extension.” Now, that webpage says Dr Merdelyn C Lit is “Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension!” Where’s “Development?”

Under Extension, the website says, “Training Programs, Analytical & Research Services, and Human Resources.” The Training Programs total 23 – it means you have to attend a training in order for UPLB to be able to say it did Extension on you.

But Training is only half of Extension – where is the other half?

Extension has to be in the field. The farmer has questions he wants answers for, or needs choices.

Look at the Oblation image again, the extended hands – to me, that is a gesture saying, “Ask me for anything and I am ready to give you!” Extension is helping someone solve a problem or resolve an issue right where that someone is. For the farmer, the extension must be in his farm.

And how can UPLB conduct Extension without hiring field technicians or extension workers? Easy. The answer is digital. Ultimately the magic of the cellphone!

PH Department of Agriculture, DA, is doing everything in the matter of pushing Agriculture to the appropriate level of socially shared productivity and profitability – but only half of Extension. So why not DA and UPLB in a common full extension program?

My proposal: Extension by Cellphone Agriculture!

First, create a Knowledge Bank on Agriculture: data & information on crops and livestock, technologies, systems etc detailed for considerations, uploaded so that they can be downloaded data by data if necessary, or as packages of information as well as options for decision by the user.

The system proposed in 2003 by now-PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar when he was Director General of ICRISAT, called Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture, OpAPA, is the knowledge bank I’m thinking of. For OpAPA, that year I prepared a digital roadmap called Geography of Knowledge, Go Know, to prepare the treasures of OpAPA, ultimately withdrawable via  cellphone. (PM me for my email address if you want a free pdf copy of Go Know.) Once OpAPA is programmed, any farmer can ask any question via his cellphone and he will get instant reply! That’s Extension.

It should not be complicated; agriculture should be simplified for the farmer. Suppose he wants to know about Hybrid Rice? With Cellphone Agriculture, just typing the words “hybrid rice” (no quotes) and he will get answers for any number of subsequent questions he can ask via his beloved cellphone. How beautiful is that?

Now, with DA funding, UPLB can do 100% OpAPA to help farmers digitally. Done right, Cellphone Agriculture is Intelligent Extension!@517