My Hero For Today & The Next 100 Days: William Dar With His New Thinking For Agriculture

On my 3-layer computer table to my left is a desk calendar that shows that today, Wednesday, 21 August 2019, is a red-letter day called "Ninoy Aquino Day." Thank you, but Ninoy Aquino is not my kind of hero. 

Today, I must say I find my hero in a simple man, Manong Willie he likes to be called now (image above from his own Facebook page). He is William Dollente Dar, from Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, who made good from poor to better and to best, my country's new Secretary of Agriculture.

In the image above, it says, "Masaganang Ani, Mataas na Kita" – Plenteous Harvest, Plentiful Income (my translation). All text in that image is Manong Willie's. He is saying that in those 4 words, we can find "The New Thinking for Agriculture" that which he is espousing as the new Secretary of Agriculture. That makes him my hero because instead of thinking something like Ninoy Aquino's clout as a crusading legislator to rise from political commonness, he is thinking of a clout for millions of his people to rise from their common poverty.

So that we can all appreciate if not adopt his way of thinking, Manong Willie has more or less given us a summary of his Mission:

Food-Secure Philippines and
Prosperous Farmers and Fisherfolk.

Actually, that is #7 in his list of 15 priority concerns as the new Secretary of Agriculture (see his column "There Is Hope For Philippine Agriculture" 2nd of 3 parts, 15 August 2019, Manila Times, manilatimes.net). He says he submitted that list to all of the Department of Agriculture on his very fist day as Secretary, his priorities for the next 100 days.

Taken together, those 4 words in the innocent-looking phrase "Plenteous Harvest, Plentiful Income" should open the eyes of the Doubting Thomases in our midst, including within the University of the Philippines Los Baños where Manong Willie obtained his doctorate degree in Horticulture.

I don't care who are the Doubting Thomases – I doubt them!

Plenteous Harvest– For higher returns, you have to help increase the harvests of farmers and fishers, much better if without increasing the total costs of production. Like, in rice, you have a choice between growing hybrids and conventional rices (inbreds) to increase your yield per hectare.

Plentiful Income – You think the life of a farmer is easy? That calls for the Science of Agronomy and Art & Science of Economics. Agronomy: You worry about the crops and the soils, among other things. Economics: You worry about supply and demand. In total, you have to worry about processing, postharvest handling, and marketing of your produce. To insure that the farmers get the value that they deserve, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT, based in India, came up with the strategy called inclusive market-oriented development – which, to simplify, enables the farmer to enjoy the rewards of marketing as his group becomes the marketman itself.

And do you know who the Director General of ICRISAT was? My Hero!@517