“Embrace A Giant Spirit.” Regenerative Agriculture, The David Who Would Kill 3 PH Goliaths With 1 Stone! Heard Of It? Asking For A Friend!

“Embrace a giant spirit” – I see it as an archipelagic lesson from Belfast, northern Ireland. Filipinos have to expand their imagination viewing their country with thousands of islands and a hundred-plus tribes & languages. The problem is that we modern Israelites see only the giant enemy and not the small stones that young David could throw to defeat the enemy.

(“Embrace” from visitbelfast.com, “3D PH map” from maphill.com)

We are still parochial when it comes to looking at the problems of our country, still provincial. Thus, we gladly look at “Local Solutions Toward Food Security”! That is the title of Rudy P Parel Jr’s article in the 12 Sept 2022 issue of Inquirer (business.inquirer.net/). “Local Solutions” – He is looking only at the food insecurity of Filipinos; he reports:

“Agriculture, food and nutrition security will be among the defining issues of the Philippines this decade and therefore systemic changes are needed to enable effective food systems transformation,” Carlie Labaria, Environment and Natural Resources Sustainable Management Subgroup Leader of the FAO in the Philippines, said during the recent Inquirer Project Rebound webinar.

The Philippines needs “to enable effective food systems transformation”? Let’s see. Mr Parel continues his article:

The agriculture sector has been hailed as the “backbone of the Philippine economy,” yet its fullest potential has not been maximized due to some food system inefficiencies.

I agriculturist agree that Agriculture is the backbone of my country’s economy – but I do not agree that its fullest potential has not been maximized because we have neglected to look into some food system inefficiencies.

I believe that reaching the fullest potential of PH Agriculture lies neither in solving problems in the food supply chain, neither in affordability, but in solving farmer poverty. And I know of a solution that is a Samson with 2 stones to throw and defeat 2 Goliaths: Farmer Poverty and Climate Change. This one is called Regenerative Agriculture (RA).

RA is not a foreigner in Philippine shores, but has been almost entirely ignored by even by old and knowledgeable universities of agriculture such as UP Los Baños in Laguna and Central Luzon State University (CLSU) in Nueva Ecija.

In contrast, Conventional or Chemical Agriculture uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and these:

(a)   are expensive;

(b)   produce unsafe foods; and

(c)   generate greenhouse gases (GHGs) that generate Climate Change!

In contrast, Regenerative Agriculture uses natural products and processes that would:

(1)   solve farmer poverty as RA is inexpensive;

(2)   produce healthy foods; and

(3)   generate zero GHGs and minimize Climate Change!

About PLDT-Smart’s capacity-building initiative called “Digital Farmers Program” (DFP), I old agriculturist and old-time blogger suggest that the DFP multiply its concerns and deal with constructing a Knowledge Bank on Regenerative Agriculture that can be accessed even via a cellphone anytime anywhere! I will call it here “Library of Verified Agriculture-Based Broad Learnings for Everyone” (LOVABLE).

A giant LOVABLE spirit it would be because it would help solve farmer poverty and resolve Climate Change!@517