management - talangguro

AGRIBIZ & AGRO-INDUSTRY INITIATIVES FOR AFRICA

Posted on 21/5/2013, 06:14 by: Erle

AGRIBIZ & AGRO-INDUSTRY INITIATIVES FOR AFRICA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A gladdening news from Africa concerns the 3ADI or African Agrigusiness and Agro-industry Development Initiative. The African Union, FAO and UNIDO are collaborating together to jettison the 3ADI.

Arranging food security measures along the value chain has been a very challenging task for Africa as a whole. Poverty and famine stoke the continent or vast parts of it, added to other disasters of geological and atmospheric disturbances.

Such a seemingly bleak situation for food insecurity, poverty, and ecological disharmonics can still be reversed to end vicious cycles of deaths and deplorable living conditions. With the collaborating institutions at the helm of 3ADI, the clout for putting a productive agenda into practice is greatly enhanced.

Below is a brief report on the 3ADI from the UNIDO.

Source: www.unido.org/index.php?id=1001681
The African Agribusiness and Agro-industry Development Initiative (3ADI)
The goal of the 3ADI is to have an agriculture sector in Africa which consists of highly productive and profitable agricultural value chains.

To accelerate the development of the agribusiness and agro-industries sectors in Africa, 3ADI supports an investment programme that will significantly increase the proportion of agricultural produce in Africa that is transformed into differentiated high-value products.

The initiative highlights the critical role of agribusinesses in the process of economic development, food security and sustainable reduction of poverty and hunger especially for the world’s poorest countries.

It also defines priority areas where support is needed to foster sustained poverty reduction through human capital development, highly productive and profitable agro-value chains and greater agribusiness participation in domestic and international markets.

The 3ADI stems from the Abuja Declaration, passed at the end of the Abuja Conference, organized by the African Union Council (AUC) on March 2011. The declaration calls upon UNIDO, in cooperation with FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) to join efforts in a well coordinated way, in order to share knowledge and harmonize programmes in ways that capture synergies, avoid fragmented efforts, and enhance developmental impacts.

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Last Post by: Erle (21/5/2013, 06:14)

ASIA IS MOST DISASTER RISK CONTINENT

Posted on 17/5/2013, 13:16 by: Erle

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ASIA IS MOST DISASTER RISK CONTINENT

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Disaster risk has been receiving intensive attention among various stakeholders across the planet. It looks like Asia’s own stakeholders have been at the forefront of disaster risk management, from risk assessment through actual interventions as crisis response measures.

Disaster mitigation may work with certain degrees of certainty, which policy makers and development institutions should buttress with greater efforts. Region per region assessments of geohazards and atmospheric disturbances in any one country should be the norm, with attendant policy and executory measures strictly implemented.

The last ten (10) years have seen horrific disasters in the whole of Asia, disasters that are close to continental catastrophe when integrated to form a complex reality matrix. To say the least, people’s reactions to them have been markedly traumatic, so that whenever they would receive news of powerful storms of tsunami nearby they cower in fear.

Are we indeed close to a ‘continental catastrophe’ for Asia, in case that the term may make sense at all? Below is a summary report from the Asian Development Bank about the disaster risk situation in Asia.

[Manila, 15 May 2013]

Source: www.adb.org/features/disaster-risk-management-asia-numbers
Disaster Risk Management in Asia by the Numbers
24 April 2013
Research shows Asia and the Pacific is more vulnerable to natural hazards than other parts of the world. The growing frequency of disasters, such as devastating floods or earthquakes, could derail the region's economic growth and poverty reduction efforts unless measures are put in place to reduce disaster risk and improve preparedness.
1.1 deaths per 1,000 square kilometers: From 1971 to 2010, the average annual death rate from natural hazards in Asia and the Pacific was double the global average of 0.5.
Source: ADB publication Investing in Resilience: Ensuring a Disaster-Resistant Future
50%: Asia accounts for half of the world's estimated economic cost of disasters over the past 20 years.
Source: Independent Evaluation report Special Evaluation Study on ADB's Response to Natural Disasters and Disaster Risks
More than $19 billion: The losses that the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is estimated to incur from disasters every 100 years on average.
Source: A presentation during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Regional Expert Meeting on Loss and Damage in 2012, cited in an Independent Evaluation report Special Evaluation Study on ADB's Response to Natural Disasters and Disaster Risks
Less than 5%: Disaster losses in dev...

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Last Post by: Erle (17/5/2013, 13:16)

SCIENCE IN VENEZUELA UNDER CHAVEZ

Posted on 4/5/2013, 09:51 by: Erle

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SCIENCE IN VENEZUELA UNDER CHAVEZ

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Did science sleep or did it get boosted further under the late President Chavez of Venezuela? The subject has become an issue for debates in Venezuela during the time of the election aimed at finding a replacement for the deceased Bolivarian patriot.

Now that the elections are over, with poll results showing a clear victory for the Bolivarian protégé of Chavez, the polarization involving the scientific community may hopefully be settled a bit, as researchers should be getting down to brass tacks to produce more study findings for the developing country.

Broadly, interest in science had multiplied by several folds since Chavez began his presidency. There were only around 1500 scientists in Venezuela before the Chavez era, a number that zoomed to 10,250 during the incumbency of the pro-grassroots strong man.

For a country that has seen science as an exclusive domain of the academe, the Chavez science domain proved to be innovative in that science moved away from that exclusionary academic pursuit that preceded his time. This, to my mind, is a welcome development, that science should serve the broad interest and needs of the people in that it is able to generate technologies enabling better work procedures and productivity.

The issue at hand is shown in the report below.

[Manila, 03 May 2013]
After Chávez: the mixed legacy of revolutionary science
Andrea Small Carmona
There's one area in which all Venezuelan scientists agree: that the 14 years of Hugo Chávez's presidency changed the way that science was done in the Latin American nation. It is whether this change was for better or for worse that they disagree on.

As Venezuela heads to presidential elections on Sunday (14 April), following Chavez's death last month, its scientists are examining the legacy of his 'revolution' — politicising the sector and minimising the power of universities, which he perceived as serving the bourgeoisie, while boosting researcher numbers and funding.
• The death of Hugo Chávez in March has triggered presidential elections this week
• Commentators are looking back on his legacy in science, such as increased resources and tensions with universities
• Science has become politicised and the two camps continue to disagree on his impact
They are also pondering how a new president may — or may not — change the scientific environment in this socialist state.

Quantity over quality?
A significant increase in the number of scientists is often held up as one of the most important accomplishments of the Chávez era.

In February this year José Luis Berroterán, vice minister for work and science, announced that the country had reached a new milestone: there were now more than 10,250 researchers working in Venezuela. Before Chávez was elected in 1998, there were around 1,500.

"Chávez's policie...

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Last Post by: Erle (4/5/2013, 09:51)

FOLKLORE TO IMPROVE LITERACY: ORAL TRADITION IN ASEAN

Posted on 24/5/2012, 07:12 by: Erle

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FOLKLORE TO IMPROVE LITERACY: ORAL TRADITION IN ASEAN

Erle Frayne D. Argonza / Ra

Visual and oral traditions are very strong among the peoples of ASEAN region. In our current analytic models, Southeast Asians are strongly right-brained as learners.
The right-brained facet of ASEAN peoples is largely a legacy of the Lemuro-Atlantean race (part of 4th ‘root race’). As per explications from Divine wisdom or Theos Sophia, the current Southeast Asians, with Malayan and IndoMongolian ethnicies as the largest, were among the last sub-races to evolve in the Atlantean racial phenotypes. The Mahatmas termed them as Lemuro-Atlantean, as they were bred from the surviving Lemurians that appeared prior to Atlantis’ heyday.
The use of folklore as potent tools for learning is practically accepted in the entire ASEAN region. Below is an example of a human development effort in Malaysia in substantiation of the folklore as learning tool.
[Philippines, 16 June 2011]
Source: www.unicef.org/malaysia/media_7099.html
Folklore inspiration to improve Malaysian Orang Asli children’s literacy
By Indra Nadchatram
KUALA LUMPUR, 25 July 2007 – Malaysia’s Orang Asli children will soon get to improve their literacy skills as a result of a specially tailored education program which will incorporate Orang Asli folklores and legends into teaching and learning aids.
Organised by the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the remedial program will introduce story-telling techniques in the classroom together with story books designed to capture the imagination of close to 6,000 Orang Asli children, with the aim of encouraging reading habits and improving writing skills.
While the country has achieved impressive results in education with a net enrolment rate of 96% in primary school for Malaysian children, most children from the Orang Asli community however are found lagging behind. Orang Asli children together with children from Sabah and Sarawak’s indigenous groups make up for a sizeable proportion of Malaysia’s remaining 4% children who fair poorly in both primary school enrolment rates and achievements.
Trapped in poverty
Due to poor education performances, Malaysia’s Orang Asli remain one of the poorest in the country. A household income survey carried out less than ten years ago found as many as 51% of the population living below the poverty level.
Teacher Santey anak Dugu (24) who hails from Malaysia’s Mah Meri ethnic group in Selangor’s Carey Island blames the lackadaisical attitude of Orang Asli parents towards education for low school enrolment, absenteeism and drop out rates.
“Orang Asli parents simply don’t realise the value of an education. When girls reach 10 or 11 year old, th...

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Last Post by: Erle (24/5/2012, 07:12)

VALUES EDUCATION VIA FOLKLORE: BRUNEI SHOWCASE

Posted on 21/5/2012, 07:46 by: Erle

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VALUES EDUCATION VIA FOLKLORE: BRUNEI SHOWCASE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza / Guru Ra

Values education is of fundamental import in awareness-raising and human formation anchorage. It is important too that values are made to work for those imbued with it, for the powerlessness to assert values make people less human.

There are many entry points to values education, which renders values formation an open field for the exercise of creative imagination and ingenuity. One of these entry points is folklore. Among the showcases for the region is that of Brunei, which I will echo in this note.

As argued by me in previous writings, folklore is a depository of ancient wisdom in Southeast Asia. I would hasten to add the Polynesians as manifesting also such a deep embeddedness of ancient or divine wisdom in their folklore. Values are part of the practical domains for divine wisdom, as it is in values where virtues (dharma) are made to work in demonstrative ways.

Below is a news briefer of the Brunei efforts.

[Philippines, 16 June 2011]
Source: http://bruneitimes.com.bn/news-national/20...rough-folktales
Promoting values through folktales
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Friday, January 28, 2011
ANTHOLOGIES of local folk tales should be published to promote Brunei stories as such books are found to be lacking in many Asian countries, with the exception of Japan, said an expert.

Dr Chu Keong Lee, a lecturer from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore made this suggestion when he presented his working paper "Promoting values using folk tales from Brunei" during the last day of the Brunei Information Resource Collection Symposium at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Local folklore are well worth promoting and libraries are the organisation most well-placed to promote them, said Dr Chu.

Additionally, governments can play a part in ensuring that local schools purchase a specific number of books for their students to encourage publishers to print local stories.

"Stories play an important role in the transmission of culture in a society, in effective organisational communication and learning, in knowledge sharing and in helping to understand a person's illness experience," said Dr Chu.

His paper analysed four local folk tales published in The Singing Top: Tales from Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei by Margaret Read MacDonald in 2008.

The four folk tales were The Dollarbid and the Short-tailed Monkey, The King of the Mosquitoes, Dayang Bongsu and the Crocodile and Si Perawal, the Greedy Fisherman.

It also discussed the ways in which libraries ca...

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Last Post by: Erle (21/5/2012, 07:46)

POTATO BATTERY

Posted on 17/5/2012, 08:15 by: Erle

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POTATO BATTERY

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good news meets you rural folks as well as field workers, as research & development discovered the positive usable energy stored in potato that can be used for micro-instruments.

The cooking pot surely promises lots for those living in hinterlands, as boiled potato was shown to exhibit positive energy capacities. That is, just to stress, when potato is boiled.

Potato is eventually available everywhere, which explains why it was chosen among diverse agri products for the research & development project. From rural to urban markets, potatoes can be found. They comprise the 4th most abundant agri products.

Below is the exciting news about the a battery of the future.

[Philippines, 20 April 2012]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/potato-batte...ergy-needs.html
Potato battery could help meet rural energy needs
James Dacey
25 June 2010 | EN
The holy grail of renewable energy research may lie in the cooking pot, according to scientists.
The search for a cheap source of electricity for remote, off-grid communities, has led to batteries that work on freshly boiled potatoes.
One slice of potato can generate 20 hours of light, and several slices could provide enough energy to power simple medical equipment and even a low-power computer, said a research team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
"The technology is ready to go," co-researcher Haim Rabinowitch told SciDev.Net. "It should take an interested body only a short while, and very little investment, to make this available to communities in need."
The team, which described its work in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy earlier this month (7 June), said its work hinges on a recent discovery that the electrical flow from potatoes — long known to be natural electrolytes — can be enhanced tenfold when their cell membranes are deliberately ruptured by boiling.
To demonstrate, the researchers created a series of batteries out of slices of boiled Desiree potatoes about the size of a standard mobile phone, though they say the type and size of potato slice do not determine its power.
The device had the same basic components as conventional batteries, consisting of two electrodes separated by an electrolyte (the potato). Each battery powered a small light for 20 hours, after which a new slice could be inserted.
Potato batteries are estimated to generate energy at a cost of approximately US$9 per kilowatt hour (kW/h), which compares favourably with the best performing 1.5 volt (AA) alkaline cells — or D cells — which generate energy at US$50/kWh.
Banana and strawberry batter...

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Last Post by: Erle (17/5/2012, 08:15)

CURRENCY: PERSIA’S OVERKILL WEAPON VERSUS NEW ROME (EU-USA)

Posted on 31/7/2011, 07:37 by: Erle

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CURRENCY: PERSIA’S OVERKILL WEAPON VERSUS NEW ROME (EU-USA)
Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Observers may be wondering about what revived Persia (Shiite empire) possesses that serves as its leverage in a Manichean ‘clash of civilizations’ with revived Rome (EU-USA). Nukes and petrol (Iran cuts down oil pumping levels) are the most easily identifiable at the moment, and those with Jurassic linear thinking are inclined to forecast these possible leverages.

New Rome (EU-USA) itself has been projecting a rather alarmist tone that had overstressed those leverages as the weapons of its revived ancient enemy. In my analysis, this projection is just a cover-up or ‘decoy’ propaganda by new Rome whose technocratic-military-oligarchic elites know too well the real leverage that Iran possesses.

My contention is that currency will be new Persia’s most powerful weapon versus its ancient adversary. Iran’s ayatollahs and partisan ideologues aren’t dumb, they’ve been preparing for this weaponry a long time ago yet (since after Islam’s take-over of Teheran in the early 80s), and they will use this weapon with determined zeal.

The U.S. intelligence community had actually created dollar-manufacturing machines outside the USA to churn out humungous volumes of the currency that will escape the inquisitive eyes of Congress. The dollars are used for covert operations overseas—to buy weaponry, drugs, gold, and stash assets elsewhere beyond Congress’ prying eyes.

Sadly for the USA and New Rome, one such machine—located inside Iran during the regime of the Shah—fell into the hands of Islamic revolutionaries after the overthrow of the Shah. It would be overstretching naïve posturing if one thinks that Shiite Islam won’t use the machine for its purpose: to produce dollars by the mighty lot.

The Western oligarchy had shown its competence at destroying economies via currency attacks. Recall the devastation of the Asian economies when Soros & cronies waged an organized campaign of currency attacks beginning in June 1997. The offshoot was the Asian ‘financial meltdown’ as we called it then.

It isn’t difficult to recognize that Persia will use the same currency attack to take down the economies of its adversaries. New Rome is already teetering on the edge of a deeper economic collapse that could send it down to 3rd world infamy in the short run, a fact that Persia’s experts and strategists are watching so closely with glee.

Persia may decide to rain dollars on the world’s coffers as a pre-emptive attack versus its ancient enemy. Let’s better take this scenario very seriously.

The moment that dollars will flood the global coffers, by which the dollar will become a mere over-the-counter commodity, both the Euro and Yen will go down in value as well. All those financial, monetary, and m...

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Last Post by: Erle (31/7/2011, 07:37)