An Open Letter To Members Of The Philippine Agricultural Journalists, PAJ

On 03 December 2019, Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie was your guest speaker at the launching of your Binhi Awards 2019co-sponsored by San Miguel Corporation, SMC. Binhi Awards has become an important yearly event in Philippine journalism. 

Binhi Awards was meant to encourage and develop PH aggie journalism. I personally feel that a private company with interests in agriculture sponsoring Binhi Awards should not be something to be ashamed of by either PAJ or SMC. In fact, I want to encourage more private sponsors and much higher prizes because of the high & intricate challenges of the current crisis in Philippine agriculture lockdown or not.

We need more aware, creative, dedicated aggie journalists today to help propagate Manong Willie’s “New Thinking For Agriculture”  with its thought components he calls “The 8 Paradigms” – and these are:

(1) Modernization.
(2) Industrialization.
(3) Promotion of exports.
(4) Consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms
(5) Infrastructure development.
(6) Higher budget & investment.
(7) Legislative support.
(8) Roadmap development.

Very challenging those!

I know that the challenge to develop Philippine agriculture is much greater today than 10 years ago, even than 1 year ago; I want to contribute more than my writing; I want to see:

PH farmers emancipated from poverty!

With this letter, I am broaching the idea of personally mentoring PAJ members in creative aggie journalism – the kind I have yet to witness among PAJ members, who continue to write what I call Single Success Stories, SSS, in their unofficial SSS Journalism. What the new PH agriculture needs now are what I call Group-Success Inspiring Stories, or GSIS Journalism.

With sponsorship by the DA, I will be your Author’s Editor online for GSIS Journalism where all activities are digital and without personal, face-to-face contacts. (To start, send me a draft: frankahilario@gmail.com.)

As a mentor for journalists, what are my pertinent credentials?

One: I was the one who came up with the winning idea of Binhi Awards.

Two: I won the 2011 award Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing, the only one honored so far in UP System history.

Three: I have published 5,000-plus articles of a minimum 1,000 words each in my many blogs, starting in 2007 when I became an international consulting writer for the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, when Manong Willie was Director General. (My blog? iCRiSAT Watch.)

For creative journalism, I will also assist each one of you to create his/her own personal blog. The beauty of a blog is that you can always publish what you have written and not wait for the editorial approval of the print or online newspaper or media you are affiliated with.

All free to PAJ – hopefully, Manong Willie will finance this intellectual effort. Yes, everything will be digital – workshop, exchanges of notes, etcetera. I will stop mentoring you only when I feel you are now good to go!

PAJ, come on and be the best you can be!@517