THiNK DiFFERENT*

Starting today, Saturday, 01 May 2021, inspired by the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar and the latest news on successful organic farming by Western Visayas farmers (above) championed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) , I hereby declare that my new mantra is Coop-Driven Agriculture. Always an original Ilocano aboriginal, I thought of “coop-driven agriculture” early morning, and later found out that the month of May is “Farmers’ & Fishermen’s Month” as mandated by Presidential Proclamation 393 signed 1989 by Cory Aquino . Serendipity! The above image is shared on Facebook by Mr Dar, where President Antonio Tadiaque of the Tubungan Vegetable Producers Association in Iloilo is saying, and I quote (unedited): Vegetables, lettuce, pechay, black rice, livestock, and poultry animals are being organically grown in more than 100 hectares of farm areas in Tubungan by almost 200 local organic farming adopters. The news is reported by Sheila Mae H Toreno , “ Suc

  Why this proposal? Because Singapore’s Asian Scientist Magazine celebrates only one-third of scientific works – Research yes. Instruction nyet. Extension nyet. Those “8 Filipino Scientists Named As Among Asian Scientist Magazine's Most Outstanding Researchers In Asia [1] ” ( Charissa Luci-Atienza , 29 April 2021, Manila Bulletin ), deserve the honor given by that Singapore-based publication. The Big Question is: Why does that publication limit Science to Research?! As an instructor in agriculture who graduated with a BSA degree major in Ag Edu from the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (UPCA, now UP Los Baños), I know that as practiced in westernized countries like my own, the Philippines: Science for the people is composed of Instruction, Research, and Extension (IRE). Perhaps today: Research: 0.1 million research studies in Asia. Instruction: 1 million students of science in Asia. Extension: 100 million farmers in Asia. So why does the Asian