Credit & Climate – Reviewing PH Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) 2020 Report On Nationally Low Credit Availability & Availment, Here’s Worldly Advice – Flood Farmers’ Fields With Easy Loans On Organic Agriculture!

Shockingly, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) annual report “2020 State Of Agricultural Finance” states that PH banks’ overall compliance to the Agri-Agra Law of 2009 was only 10% – despite the fact that the banking system generated a total of P6,500,000,000,000 (P6.5 Trillion) loanable funds! Meaning, measly credit was availed of by farmers and fishers who needed it the most. Credit assistance – our farmers fail because we fail our farmers!

Even if, as I understand, the DA did its credit best. The ACPC report says:

The Department of Agriculture (DA) continues to provide services and resources needed by the country’s farmers, fishers and agri-fishery-based micro and small enterprises…  (intended to produce) adequate supply of food.

Some 31% or 509 municipalities, outside the National Capital Region, were still unbanked or without any banking office. Mindanao had the highest proportion of unbanked municipalities, 51%.

It is interesting to note that despite (or maybe because of) the pandemic, loans for both agricultural production as well as transportation and storage grew by the same rate of 6% in 2020 from previous year’s level.

State or private controls are holding back growth of loan use? The report says “Universal and Commercial Banks (UCBs) continue(d) to be the predominant lenders to agriculture, owning 93% of the total agricultural loan exposure of the entire banking system.”

Collectively, thrift banks (TBs) and rural and cooperative banks (RCBs) “had roughly the same size of portfolio dedicated to the agriculture section, each sharing 4% of the total in both years” (2019 and 2020).

Therefore, I say the ACPC needs to come up with a comprehensive policy pronouncement & some promotional activities covering TBs and RCBs to encourage farmers & fishers for them to enjoy a great amount of the total national loanable funds. Farmers and fishers are not conscious of credit because we are not conscious of credit ourselves?
(“LoanTap” image from Loantap.in)

RA 10000 (Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act of 2009) “aims to provide an agriculture, fisheries, and agrarian reform credit and financing system to improve the productivity of the agriculture and fisheries sector,” requiring each bank to set aside at least 25% of loanable funds: 10% agrarian, and 15% agriculture. In 2020, the banking system generated a total of P6.5 Trillion: By law, P651 Billion was to be allocated for agrarian credit (Agra) and P976 Billion for agricultural credit (Agri). Banks, however, were only able to provide Agri-Agra assistance amounting to about P663 Billion, or only 10% Overall Assistance, 90% No-Demand.

We have to give credit to whom credit is due!

Here’s my original if unsolicited advice to banks to move heaven & earth: Package tempting loans for organic agriculture (OA), because OA reduces much, much the cost of farming, produces only healthy foods, and eliminates 100% greenhouse gases from farmers’ fields. By this, Filipino farmers can teach the world how to defeat 3 Goliaths with 1 Stone: Farmer Poverty, Unhealthy Foods, and Climate Change!@517

AmCham Philippines – Gentlemen, You Will Love To Invest More As You Become David Who Defeats 3 Goliaths With The Same Single Stone – Organic Agriculture Vs Farmer Poverty, Unhealthy Foods & Climate Change!

I know next to nothing about going into business, so this time I will play it by ear. All I can see right now is opportunities, given the obstacles. With and beyond British wit Oscar Wilde, I see the doughnuts, I see through the holes!

Who happens to be the most optimistic fellow about Philippine agriculture right now? I happen to be that one, a wild, wide reader since high school, UP '65 Agriculturist, Educator (BSA major in Ag Edu, Civil Service Professional), self-styled warrior writer since 1975, and inveterate blogger since 2000. The only problems are that I have neither capital nor business acumen! Instead, I am an encourager. The motivation and media style are reflected in the title of my blog: For A (Happier) Philippines!

At the Department of Agriculture (DA), here comes Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, ANN says, talking to and trying to convince members of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) to put their money where their mouth is and invest in the sector that is “ready for big leagues entrepreneurship” (Author Not Named, 05 March 2022, “Sec Dar Convinces AmCham Members To Invest In Philippine Agri,” DA.gov.ph).
(AmCham logo from LinkedIn.com)

About this American group doing business in these islands, their own website says (AmCham Philippines, amchamphilippines.com):

Incorporated in 1920, the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) has been striving to contribute to the Philippine economic growth for the socioeconomic development of the Filipinos.

AmCham is 102 years old! That means this group stuck with the Filipinos in their struggle for independence from the US of A (1945), and from the internal strife called “People Power” against PH President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos (1986). AmCham has not given up on us – so why should we?

Here comes Mr Dar urging AmCham to open their eyes wider and discover more business opportunities in the Philippines, notwithstanding the Covid19 hullabaloo. Our country, he says, is “ready for big leagues entrepreneurship.”

And what is there to encourage AmCham’s business-mindedness now? Mr Dar says:

Our creativity led us to the transformations of Philippine agriculture we are quite proud of now, and we hope to kindle vibrant entrepreneurship through it. We want you there with us at this new turn.

Let us learn more about this group, AmCham. Its website says:

Its service… started as the Manila Coffee Round Table (1902) and later as the Manila Merchants Association. Although with different names, the Chamber’s commitment did not waver through time. It has been true to its commitment of developing and looking after the welfare of American businesses in the Philippines.

Now then, AmCham, you must be committed to the development and looking after more American businesses in the Philippines!

AmCham, more than Big Business in Organic Agriculture, you will be Big David helping defeat 3 Modern Goliaths: Farmer Poverty, Unhealthy Foods, and Climate Change. Find out more – find out now!@517

Huge Political Change Coming To The Philippines – Whom Should We Vote For As President To Save Us From Ourselves As Our Own Enemies As We Are Co-Creators Of Climate Change!?

On Facebook, their followers are very noisy about their preferred Presidentiables, seemingly the 2 frontrunners being Leni Robredo, currently PH Vice President, and Bongbong Marcos (BBM), currently jobless. People are excited about their preferred candidates – but nobody is talking about one of the, if not the most important problem that the next PH President should tackle: Climate Change. (I leave Corruption to others.)

(Robredo-Marcos photo, Rappler.com)

Personally, I don’t think that either Leni or BBM knows about this deadly un-natural enemy of the people, so I will now volunteer what I know and what is/are doable. If they both pick up the challenge, may the best wo/man win!

The lower image above, my 24 Aug 2016 photograph onscreen of a scene inside the UPLB campus after a typhoon, shows the deadly un/natural power of climate change. It is a stark reminder that our practice of Agriculture is largely contributing to climate change in the form of greenhouse gases coming from chemical fertilizers. Those gases are invisible, but their eventual damage is visible and very destructive.

(See also my 06 March 2022 essay, “Today, Sunday, 06 March 2022, UP Los Baños Celebrates Its 113th Founding Anniversary – When It Comes To Agriculture In Relation To Climate Change, Has My Alma Mater Grown Wiser Or Simply Grown Older? Asking For A Friend!” For A (Happier) Philippines! Blogspot.com. It’s funny at our own expense!)

So, it becomes imperative for me, if not for you as a voter, to select a Presidentiable who appreciates, not necessarily knows much, about climate change and the crucial role that agriculture plays in cultivating, as it were, the deadly forces collectively known as “Climate Change” – chemical agriculture contributes to our Earth’s atmosphere so much greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the forms of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – and it is these GHGs that warm the Earth unnaturally and bring havoc on all of us creatures great and small.

If any Presidentiable is listening, it should be an easy one on the wisdom of a subsequent presidential decree on agriculture – declaring that henceforth Philippine farming should all the time practice Organic Agriculture (OA), and no longer Chemical Agriculture (CA). Government will not punish the CA farmers, but will offer very attractive incentives to OA farmers.

Even without government incentives, in the practice of organic agriculture, farmers will find, will be amazed at 3 things they have never witnessed before in their lives:

(1)   OA makes farming very easy and very rewarding in terms of income. Why because CA costs much, much more than OA!

(2)   Farm crops grown via OA yield healthy vegetables and fruits that nourish the body, reducing and eventually eliminating food-related diseases. And they are priced higher.

(3)   OA reduces climate change – No more GHGs highly warming Earth’s atmosphere!

We need Primate Change at the top so that we can proceed with Citizen Change below so that we can defeat Climate Change from above!@517

Today, Sunday, 06 March 2022, UP Los Baños Celebrates Its 113th Founding Anniversary – When It Comes To Agriculture In Relation To Climate Change, Has My Alma Mater Grown Wiser Or Simply Grown Older? Asking For A Friend!

How healthy is my alma mater UP College of Agriculture (UPCA, now UP Los Baños) as it turns 113 years old Sunday, 06 March 2022? I know it is very healthy physically – what about intellectually? In the topmost image, you see the sculptural multi-piece Man, Carabao & Plow still prominently displayed in what is lovingly called “Carabao Plaza.” Absent tractor of any kind. UPLB has not outgrown the wooden plow?
(Carabao-Man-Plow image from flickr.com, date image among 2019 photos I took)

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Fortifying Collaborations With Industry And Communities” (Jessa Jael S Arana, 01 Mar 2022, “UPLB To Mark 113th Foundation Day Anniversary,” UP Los Baños, UPLB.edu.ph). The first UPCA Dean was Edward Bingham Copeland, a botanist. As an UPCA alumnus, BSA Ag Edu 1965, I know botanists are strictly technical in language, not popular – they can hardly relate to society at large. Thus, scientific tradition explains why 113-year old UPLB does not speak much popular language despite its College of Development Communication, which espouses Development Communication (DevCom). DevCom was first established on 01 July 1962 as the Department of Agricultural Communication (devcom.edu.ph). Expectedly, as with its mother agency, DevCom has not pursued climate change on its own.

It was the Americans, some of the Thomasites, who set up the UP College of Agriculture. What could we expect? In the US, in 1849, chemical fertilizers were already being sold commercially (Mary Bellis, “History Of American Agriculture,” ThoughtCo, thoughtco.com), 60 years before the Americans established UPCA – so what else would/could they teach except chemical agriculture?

It is proudly called “Carabao Plaza” and displayed right in the middle of the road leading to the main campus. I cannot explain this very-public sculptural display when it only shows artifacts – those items belong in the Museum of Natural History that UPLB has!

UPLB has yet to relate its agriculture to climate change and what farmers can do about it – to stop emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from farms, to shift from chemical agriculture to organic agriculture, if slowly.

Yes, I just found out that UPLB instituted the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Studies Center (CCDRSC) in 2013, which is an institutional elevation of a climate change program set up in 2007. Now I ask, in the absence of any technical paper or popular article in digital media coming from UP Los Baños about chemical agriculture and its contributions to climate change, which are GHGs carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide (not to mention nitrates that poison drinking water) – when is UPLB going to institutionally recommend organic agriculture (OA) instead of chemical agriculture (CA) because OA does not while CA does produce GHGs?

UP has always been anti-this and anti-that; will history and Filipinos forgive UP for not being anti-chemical agriculture?

Today, I ask 113-year-old UP Los Baños when will it begin to teach institutionally organic agriculture? Asking for a friend!@517

Teddy Baguilat Is My #1 Candidate-Senator, Ifugao-Gaddang, Representing Natives In Their Habitats. My Advice Is Regenerative Agriculture: With A Rainbow Of Crops, “Rice Terraces” Become “Nice Terraces”!

Beyond the Ukraine-Russia-induced crisis, the world is engulfed in the Climate Crisis – and Man must take care of his Environment, or that will take care of him worse than a World War!

Wikipedia says Teddy Baguilat graduated from UP Diliman with a BA in Mass Communication major in Journalism. Well, this journalist will now make his world more colorful.
(Baguilat image from TNT.abante.com.ph)

Mr Baguilat is President of the Global Consortium for Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA Consortium), advisory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (en.wikipedia.org). He also has a foundation with the aim of helping students and protecting the environment.

Environment is a subject that the other senatorial candidates cannot claim as being familiar with – and I can claim it as an agriculturist (UP '65) and as Editor In Chief & Founder of the 3 publications of the Forest Research Institute (FORI), 1975-1981: monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly popular magazine. In FORI, I enjoyed many intellectual bites off the environment.

As Mr Baguilat would know working as ICCA Consortium President, biological diversity is as necessary as air to humans. Practices such as multiple cropping and/or intercropping are necessary for better agribusiness as well as better environment. Monocultures are anathema to healthful communities.

Now then, Mr Baguilat will understand what I said in an earlier essay (09 Feb 2022, “Organic Agriculture – Simultaneously Solving Farmer Poverty & Bad Health & Climate Change – Killing 3 Global Goliaths With 1 Stone!” For A (Happier) Philippines! Blogspot.com): That farmers must practice organic agriculture, that is aside from multiple cropping. Organic agriculture regenerates the soil; multiple cropping regenerates the environment.

Gina Lopez, Environment Secretary said, “We keep the light shining brightly in our hearts and that light will bring on our future” (Daisy Langenegger’s Facebook sharing). Climate Change is now obviously endangering that future. It is high time that the Philippine Congress pay attention to what we must do against Climate Change. Today, we need Regenerative Agriculture in order to regenerate healthy food and pleasant weather. If our practice of agriculture continues to contribute greenhouse gases that exacerbate climate change, if we don’t stop that, we are insane!

In 2010, Mr Baguilat won as representative of the lone district of Ifugao, and succeeded in the campaign to preserve the Rice Terraces of the Cordilleras. Preserve? I have a better idea: Prettify! To make all those rice terraces enchanting and at the same time help combat climate change, my advice is:

To make “Nice Terraces” – Terrace by terrace, grow vegetables, flowers, ornamentals, rice, fruit trees. In any combination. Stop the monoculture Rice Terraces and Start the multi-culture Nice Terraces! And forward Organic Farming, forsake Chemical Agriculture!
(image: rainbow terraces from behance.net)

As agriculturist, I see the need to regenerate soils; as voter, I see that with Mr Baguilat as Senator, we will regenerate the Senate into an environment-conscious lawmaking body. Today, we need all the intelligent help we can get!@517

“Immediate & Resolute Approval.” Good Work, PRRD! Good Work, Secretary Of Agriculture William Dar! If You Have A Good Plan, People Will See And Sign In

Highly unusual, but ANN uses the words “immediate and resolute approval” by PRRD of several proposals submitted by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar “to cushion the impact of global economic challenges and Russia-Ukraine crisis on Philippine food security” (Author Not Named, 02 Mar 2022, “PRRD Approves Food Security Measures Amid Global Challenges And Ukraine Crisis,” DA.gov.ph). Thinking, this journalist says if you have a sure plan, people will sign in for sure.

“Food security” for all. An agriculturist and self-proclaimed apostle of communication for village development since 2021 (CoViD21), I salute PRRD for saying, during that first-day-of-March cabinet meeting: “We should help our farmers and fishers to be more productive, and earn decent income.”

Food Security must come with Overall Agriculture Security!

That is an acknowledged international truth. The World Bank knows it. ANN says this body reported 17 months ago this (Author Not Named, 09 Sept 2020, Philippines: Vibrant Agriculture Is Key To Faster Recovery And Poverty Reduction,” World Bank, worldbank.org):

Transforming Philippine agriculture into a dynamic, high-growth sector is essential for the country to speed up recovery, poverty reduction and inclusive growth, according to the latest report released by the World Bank.

Note that “transforming Philippine agriculture into a dynamic, high-growth sector” is necessary to accomplish 3 things: (1) speed up recovery of economy, (2) reduce poverty, and (3) promote growth inclusive of all.

I repeat: “Inclusive of all.” As Agriculture grows, the whole Philippines grows – as Agriculture stunts, the whole Philippines stunts. Primarily, the economy of the country, any country, comes from the soil.

That cabinet meeting in Malacañang, also attended by top officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police, was “to discuss possible scenarios should the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict continue and escalate.” Food security, people security.

PRRD also approved the recommendations of his economic team, led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, on the domestic economy, food prices, and social protection.

Mr Dar said, “It is imperative and urgent for the Philippine government to ensure that we have adequate, affordable and accessible supply of basic food items, and agricultural inputs to ensure continued productivity and increased incomes of farmers and fisherfolk.” The Russia-Ukraine conflict would disrupt international commerce; consider that the Philippines imports, among other things, oil, chemical fertilizers & pesticides.

Food first of all.

Mr Dar said, according to ANN:

If we fail to act now, the net result is high food prices and inflation, resulting in food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition. Thus, we thank President Duterte for his decisive action on the matter.

Decisive leaders for proposing, and decisive leaders for approving funds to carry out the proposals. Plans and funds must come together.

The measures approved by the President will further boost higher food production in the country, and provide our farmers, fishers, and rural folk much-needed incomes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

My CoViD21 opinion: “The prime movers of our economy are our farmers, fishers and families in the villages!”@517

In Union There Is Strength! PhilRice Isabela Shows In Its Territorial Region 2 & CAR That Farmer Cooperation With Business-Mindedness Is The Combined Key To Prosperity In The Villages

When I saw the topmost image on Facebook, immediately I said to myself, “Abundance and Cooperation.” I supposed that, with so many full bags of rice, people loading into a waiting vehicle, and someone gesturing, “Alright!”

The scene is courtesy of PhilRice Isabela dated 24 Feb 2022. The Facebook post says:

MarDag RiceBIS Agriculture Cooperative got a 50-centavo higher price per kilogram of fresh palay by marketing the produce of its members together.

MarDag is the Marasat Grande and Dagupan RiceBIS farmer group in San Mateo, Isabela – with an initial 103 members in Oct 2018 (PhilRice.gov.ph) – membership un-updated. RiceBIS is the “Rice Business Innovations System” propagated by PhilRice. Now then, I say: “PhilRice means business!” Now I know business is what I saw in the topmost image without someone articulating it.

The Facebook post says:

An initial harvest totaling 57,888 kg of palay was consolidated and marketed to the buyer with the highest buying price, giving (MarDag) an increased income of P28,944 for (its) first deal.

Being the son of a farmer and an agriculture graduate (UP '65), I know that with farmers, a single income of P28,944 is something to be happy about! It is very much welcome – note in the image someone showing a thumbs-up. Not identified, but he may be Jose Guillermo, MarDag's Palay Trading Coordinator. He says about the deal:

Ito ang kagandahan ng organisadong pagsasaka at pagbebenta. Nakakahanap kami ng buyer na mas makakapagbigay sa amin ng magandang presyo.
(“This is the beauty of organized farming and selling. We are able to locate a buyer who is able to give us an attractive price.” – my translation)

I am glad PhilRice is earnestly into cooperatives. Our small farmers will thus survive – and thrive. (Note: PhilRice can help organize them but only structurally; they have to help themselves, themselves.)

The Facebook post says more:

Farm clustering and consolidation of harvest is a strategy initiated by the (RiceBIS) Community Project to increase the income of smallholder farmers.

The territorial imperative of PhilRice Isabela, which is now under Director Joy Bartolome Duldulao, is Region 2 and the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR). To be more accurate, farm clustering with consolidation of operations is a strategy originated and emphasized by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, head of the Department of Agriculture (DA); PhilRice is under the DA.

Another report on PhilRice Isabela farmers is enthusiastic. Christina Frediles says (“It’s All About Willingness, Commitment,” Philippine Rice Research Institute, philrice.gov.ph), who quotes Ofelia Malonzo, RiceBIS lead implementer in Isabela, as saying:

Volunteerism is the key – the farmers who believe that the program can better their lives will join. It took guts. We knew that inviting people to join and commit would be challenging. And since (women) saw that RiceBIS could be a big help to our community, (women) volunteered.

Congratulations, DA, PhilRice Isabela and Director Duldulao. Taken together, you are an inspiring big help to farmers in Region 2 and CAR!@517