My Challenge To Apo BBM, Ilocano To Ilocano – RANG-AY ITI ILI. With Economic Vs Environmental Advice

With exports of agricultural chemicals from advanced countries in jeopardy, for all I know, as interim PH Secretary of Agriculture, BBM Sir, among other things, you have been advised to prescribe “Balanced Fertilization,” for farmers to reduce use of chemical fertilizers and increase use of organic fertilizers. Economic advice.

Environmental advice – To solve Farmer Poverty and simultaneously fight Climate Change bringing devastating typhoons, floods and landslides, as an alumnus of UP Los Baños, my advice is:

Go 100% regenerative agriculture (RA) – forget chemical agriculture (CA)!

Why 100% RA, 0% CA? RA uses 100% biodegradable materials (plant-based); organic fertilizers are examples of RA materials – locally produced; CA uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides – all imported.

I view RA as one of the better avenues for country-wide development, explained below.
(Image sources: “What is Community” from Geneva College, geneva.edu; “Connecting People” from Nurture Development, nurturedevelopment.org)

We begin slowly, intelligently. First, we need to construct what I call “RANG-AY ITI ILI” – literally, in our Ilocano, the phrase means “progress for people” – an Internet library dedicated to farming for community development. In fact, it is an acronym:

RANG-AY ITI ILI – Regenerative Agriculture for National Growth – Advanced Along Associations & Youth, Internet-Involved Technologies & Information Intended For Layman Instructions

Why regenerative agriculture and not chemical agriculture? I can give 5 reasons:

1^st – We anticipate huge global problems with supply of farm chemicals. The Internet library (RANG-AY ITI ILI) will teach farmers how to make composts & mulches out of natural materials found nearby.

2^nd – With RA, we make soils rich naturally and, therefore, grow healthy foods.

3^rd – With healthy foods from farms, customers will clamor for more!

4^th – With healthy markets for farm produce, farmers would become healthy, wealthy & wiser!

5^th – With the non-use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, zero (0) greenhouse gases will be generated from millions of hectares of farms all over the Philippines! Less Climate Change.

National Growth – Regenerative Agriculture is applicable all over the Philippines.

Associations – We target farmer associations, preferably cooperatives, so that all government assistances can be efficiently advanced and traced.

Youth – The youth can help propel national agriculture to heights never before reached with their imagination and enthusiasm.

Internet-Involved – RANG-AY ITI ILI is a digital library of agriculture, all knowledge available and applicable given the situation, location, and farmer/s involved anywhere in the Philippines.

Technologies – Packages of scientific knowledge are uploaded into the digital library that anyone can access anytime anywhere.

Information Intended for Layman Instruction & Internalization – The science in RANG-AY ITI ILI is expressed in a language (American English at first) understandable even by 3^rd year high schoolers, so that they can explain it to their parents if necessary. Importantly – this Internet library is accessible via cellphone!

With initial funding from your office, Mr President, we engage the cooperation of the state universities & colleges as participants in building RANG-AY ITI ILI for our farmers to survive and thrive even as they help stop Climate Change.

RANG-AY ITI ILI – All digital knowledge for the good of all!@517