My Celebration Of “Earth Day” April 22 Comprises A Cerebration Of Natural Agriculture: “PH Has 165,000 Organic Farms!” – William Dar

In New Delhi, India on Wednesday-Thursday, 20-21 April, they held the “BioAg Asia 2022” conference with delegates from many Asian countries. I write & think, “How can BioAg be a celebration of Earth Day, which is Friday, 22 April 2022?”

I googled for “biological agriculture” and found zero source; I think the term was invented for the conference.

What about “natural agriculture”? ANN says PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar gave the opening remarks (Author Not Named, 21 April 2022, “Phl Agri Chief Supports Bio-Agriculture As Key Strategy For Food Sustainability,’ DA.gov.ph) – actually, Mr Dar supported and enlarged the scope of BioAg 2022:

[He] encouraged more than 100 delegates from dozens of Asian countries to promote and implement natural and biological solutions to produce more with less, particularly in the judicious and balanced use of organic and inorganic farm inputs to enhance crop yields, ensure quality of produce, and subsequently increase farmers’ incomes.

The conference is on “biological agriculture” – the application of biological science & technology (S&T) on food production; nonetheless, Mr Dar intelligently interjected “natural… solutions to produce more with less.”

I am sure the BioAg delegates expected Mr Dar to talk only about “biological solutions” as the conference was so dedicated, but he has always been a bold mind and an original. When he was the Director General of ICRISAT, based in India, he came up with the intellectually enervating Vision – “Science with a human face.” With that as Guiding Star, from 2000 to 2014, Mr Dar’s outstanding servant leadership brought ICRISAT from dead last to #1 among 15 international agricultural research centers under the CGIAR, including the world-famous IRRI.

During the BioAg, he discussed what the PH DA has been doing in terms of utilizing S&T “to promote and implement biological and natural solutions to produce more with less, particularly in the judicious and balanced use of organic and inorganic farm inputs to enhance crop yields, ensure quality of produce, and subsequently increase farmers’ incomes.”

For Earth Day’s sake, I am more interested in organic farming. On this topic, Mr Dar said:

We have doubled our efforts in promoting organic farming through our National Organic Agriculture Program, and have posted the highest growing numbers of organic vegetable producers in the world with more than 165,000 organic farms.

The Philippines now has 165,000 organic farms, the world’s highest growing number! As a blogger Towards A New Eden, that’s heavenly music to my Filipino ears.
(towardsaneweden.blogspot.com)

ANN says also about BioAg 2022:

As the world faces the dilemma of dwindling yield and unproductive lands due to overuse of chemical inputs, key players in bio-agriculture in Asia have joined forces to discuss policy measures and come up with expeditious initiatives toward global food sustainability, with emphasis on environmental protection and biodiversity.

“Toward global food sustainability, with emphasis on environmental protection and biodiversity” – I think these are achievable with organic agriculture, to make possible:

Every single day Earth Day!@517
(“Make every day Earth Day” image from iStock, istockphoto.com)