CNN Philippines is telling us "UP Climbs In World Rankings, Remains Top University In PH[1]." I am telling you UP has not climbed any ladder when it comes to serving the Filipino people with digital knowledge – I am particularly referring to PH Agriculture.
Altogether, the UP System has neglected to serve the instant knowledge needs of the Filipino farmers when it comes to sustainability of their farming and family. I should know – I am an alumnus, agriculturist, a teacher and writer, and I have been in and out and around UP Los Baños in the last 60 years.
So what is UP bragging about even as, according to CNN, it "remained the country’s top educational institution as it ranked higher in the latest world university ranking of a United Kingdom-based group?" Where are the Scholars of the People (Mga Iskolar ng Bayan) when you need them most? Fortuitously, that news came out on Wednesday, 19 June 2019, the birthday of our National Hero, the patriot Jose Rizal – now then, how can UP show its patriotism by the scholars helping serve the immediate knowledge needs of Filipino farmers? This is essentially work at home!
The Philippines suffers from lack of advocates for the new PH Agriculture to get out of the troubles it is now in – and a lack of youth entrepreneurs in the farms, up to exports.
Where I sit, at home, I can contribute more to the inadequate or out-of-date knowledge in agriculture of Filipino farmers if my alma mater UP Los Baños assigns funds to create and communicate a digital knowledge bank for farmers, the knowledge bits & pieces stated in high school language and not in technical terms.
Where are you Iskolars ng Bayan when we need you most? You practice political activism, but not development activism. What have you been doing for the poor, especially in helping them emancipate themselves from poverty?
I support the new PH Agriculture as espoused by the new Secretary of Agriculture, William Dar/Manong Willie. A UPLB alumnus, a teacher and writer, I blog everyday, talking about what the Department of Agriculture, DA, can do for the farmers – and what the farmers can do for themselves. In this new blog of mine, iParadigm Shifts[2], I have uploaded 100 essays since 11 September, about 4 every 3 days.
Iskolar ng bayan, or whoever within the UP System, you don't have to go out to the countryside to serve the people! How about agitating in the media, especially digital media, for Big Business to enter into agriculture following the example of the P2 Billion Dalisay Rice initiative, where landownership and land consolidation are not questions – but consolidating operations is. Ask Rachel Renucci-Tan via her Facebook account. (I have written about Dalisay Rice[3].)
And my alma mater, UP Los Baños, how about creating a knowledge bank for farmers where they have options? PhilRice and even IRRI's knowledge banks are Bibles, notguides.@517
[1] https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/6/19/UP-top-university-QS-world-rankings-2020.html
[2] https://iparadigmshifts.blogspot.com
[3]"The Rise Of Rices? Dalisay Rice & BigasPh," 05 November 2019, https://iparadigmshifts.
blogspot.com/2019/11/the-rise-of-rices-dalisay-rice-bigasph.html
blogspot.com/2019/11/the-rise-of-rices-dalisay-rice-bigasph.html
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