Farmers & “The New Gains Revolution”

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To the Facebook sharing by Roberto Acosta of John Berthelsen's “Scientists Renew The Green Revolution[1]”, 22 June, my comment was:

Still short – revolutionizing only the crop, not the farming where the farmer gets proper rewards for his labor – sans usurers, sans merchants.

No: “New Grains Revolution.”
Yes: “New Gains Revolution.”
Small Change, Big Change!

Thanks but no thanks to Bill Gates who funded the generation of Green Super Rices initially at IRRI in Los Baños, Laguna. I was Freshman at the UP College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, when IRRI was born, so you can say I grew up with IRRI in the fields of agriculture.

No John, we are past the need for a New Grains Revolution and now need a New Gains Revolution!

Don’t get me wrong, John. I love what is called Green Super Rice, GSR (above image); in fact, I praised it 5 years ago (“Green Super Rice[2],” 25 June 2015, INA DAGA). This was about Indian farmer Asha Ram Pal of Uttar Pradesh who obtained a yield of 4.5 tonnes, where before that field used to give him only 1 tonne! It was the GSR.

Yet, what are 3.5 more tonnes of rice grains per hectare for if the gains are not capable of releasing the rice farmer from poverty?!

So you see, John, I knew about the New Grains Revolution, my term, at least 5 years ago. Yet, what we need today is the New Gains Revolution! (above inset image of hands and money from Golden Mastermind[3]).

John, in the Philippines, as the son of a farmer, I knew even when I was that high that the usurer was the enemy of the farmer in our rural village of Sanchez in Asingan, Pangasinan in Central Luzon, Philippines. One other enemy of the farmer was the merchant – because of debts, the rice farmer had to sell his harvest at harvest time, and that’s a heaven-sent time for the merchant, who would then offer a measly sum for the grains, and the poor farmer had to accept the offer because he would have nothing else. Secretary of Agriculture William Dar knows all these and what needs be done

So, the times of plant breeders are past, John. We are now looking for people who would encourage farmers to become members of a multi-purpose cooperative that would manage the aggie businesses of the farmers. This type of coop I call Super Coop, of which I first wrote 6 years ago (see my essay, “Brain Gain[4],” 01 June 2014, Frank A Hilario).

John, what we are going after now is not only more grains but more gains for each farmer to rise above poverty.

What we need to cultivate now, John, is not any new variety or crop but a new variety of farmer. And no, John, the farmer in The New Gains Revolution need not go to school, need not be young, and need not be a landowner. He needs only be a thinker of more gains and less grains!@517

 


[1]https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/scientists-renew-the-green-revolution?fbclid=IwAR0-JUSVIP-QVFbxAc7mw4BWYIM2cyKQmsR5wZsMzqHXCut5zwFAB1zu8x4
[2]http://inadaga.blogspot.com/2015/06/green-super-irri.html
[3]https://blog.goldenmastermind.com/money-quotes/
[4]http://frankahilario.blogspot.com/2014/06/brain-grain.html


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