Dig the hole or make the time

This week at the Tuesday Club @ EDSA Shangri-La was quite refreshing. I don’t know what they added into the coffee but people seemed more relaxed and certainly a little more unguarded and honest about their sentiments.

There seemed to be very little talk or serious concern about politics and not a whole lot whining going on about the food crisis etc. Even when Agriculture Secretary Art Yap dropped in for a cup of coffee the state of mind seemed more about cooperative analysis and problem solving.

For someone who has been “butchered” in the airwaves and opinion pages, Art Yap has managed to keep his sense of humor, composure and still squeezes in an argument, a defense, or simply cuts to the chase and calls things as they are.

Yap takes pride in proving that there never was a rice shortage. If the people believed rumors and speculations that there was a rice shortage then they will have to literally “pay” the price for panic if not lack of faith! Yap won’t deny that prices have gone up but that is no longer his domain. Perhaps President Arroyo could ask DTI Secretary Peter Favila to explain why and what he has been doing about it!

Like I said, we don’t have a Rice shortage, we have a Cash crisis!

There are of course more than enough great ideas or suggestions to solve our many problems, but President Arroyo needs to realize that a handful of her cabinet members are handicapped. Some of them have a hearing impairment, some are chair ridden as unable to get off their ass, and the rest are creatively challenged.

Having dared to go to the lion’s den, Sec. Art Yap came out with a few steaks and no bite marks. For starters, he got affirmation and support for tapping churches and barangays as distribution points for NFA rice.

He was reminded of the persistent dependence of farmers on nitrogen fertilizer that has reached double their posted prices. Yap was encouraged to create a better business system of farming and trading which integrates barangay officials, churches and farmers that would be more structured, established and subject to government accountability.

Such a system if developed, would displace opportunistic and manipulative middlemen who are not from the community. By empowering barangay officials and residents, such a business system develops inter-dependence in the community as well as uplifts the economy of every barangay. The business model would also insure that the procurement or buying of “NFA” type palay or rice will be extended to ALL rice farming barangays and remove the burden on farmers who have to travel and deliver their harvest to get NFA prices or be victimized by “palay buyers” who end up making all the profit. With localize trading will also come new income opportunities for barangays!

The beauty of the system is that everyone is guaranteed since the farmers will be selling to the barangay and the barangay will be selling to the NFA and the NFA will sell the milled rice back to the barangay who will sell to their consumers. This is a classic WIN-WIN SITUATION. The only losers are unscrupulous traders and hoarders.

The issue of “fertilizers” was also addressed and Art Yap expressed utter frustration with farmers who refused to use technology such as soil testing and organic fertilization.

Secretary Yap has to think like a scientist in this behavioral modification issue. One negative trait of Filipino or of humans for that matter is Envy or Ingit. For Filipinos, “ingit” often drives them to becoming competitive. The best thing Yap can do is to get his agri boys to assist or develop several “organic showcase” farms in each province where the farmers themselves can testify or attest to the superior and higher yield volumes of organic farms!

I personally know of such farms in the Philippines which has convinced me that there is no better option but to rely more and more on organic fertilizers and farming system. A good start would be for the Secretary of Agriculture not to allow fertilizer commercials on his radio programs.

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Making time

On that same morning, but on a totally different topic, a couple of friends expressed their frustration of not having managed to get anywhere with the “book” they were writing. “Tisoy” confessed that as much as he wanted to, he has spent the last nine years, still believing he will be able to finish the book.

We all have unsettled accounts or unfinished manuscripts. Whether it’s on paper or in life, things always manage to get in the way and before you know it, years have passed and your idealism or your dreams are not as strong, as vivid or as clear.

I told my friends, if it’s really that important to you, why not wake up one-hour extra-early everyday and write one good paragraph a day?!

“Tisoy” shook his head in disbelief. The solution was so simple he couldn’t understand why it never occurred to him. What I couldn’t tell him was that the solution was not simple nor was it about simplicity.

Waking up an extra hour early is not fun and not easy! It requires desire, discipline and determination. If the world has already laid claim to all your waking hours, then go and make the extra hour. You can begin by cutting out the time-wasting activity, rearrange your time and priorities and make “new” time for the important things.

One paragraph a day may seem so little but any writer who’s tired, uninspired or seeking the perfect rhyme and reason, will tell you that one good paragraph eloquently written is worth more than pages of drivel. What makes it all come together is when you actually manage to “make” time and do what you couldn’t for so long.

If you want a tree you must first dig a hole. If you want a well you must first dig the ground, if you want a house you must first dig the hole for the post. Dig the hole and the rest follows.