Scanning our media scene, do we recognize the elements of ideology, the academic, or the real world?
Consider these two articles: (a) Think tank urges more focus on domestic industry, agri; skeptical about FDI impact and (b) Liberalize agriculture to allow crucial imports – NEDA chief.
Since Vietnam is the latest neighbor to overtake us, here are two exciting agriculture-related pieces: (a) Rice production in Vietnam and (b) Vietnam Food Association Charter.
Rice production in Vietnam.
“Rice growing in Mekong Delta has an ancient history traced to the Khmer regime of the 18th century. It was taken over by the Vietnamese. However, the Cambodians still consider this area “Kampuchea Krom or Lower Cambodia,” unable to forget that they owned this area in the past. Cambodia even attacked Vietnam in 1978 to take control of the Mekong Delta. But the latter defeated them decisively. This delta was the last part of present-day Vietnam annexed from Cambodia.
“Its present status under the Vietnamese is, however, a large swathe of green carpet of rice paddy. This development dates back to the French, who colonized Vietnam in the middle of the 19th century with the primary objective of exporting rice grown in the delta to meet the enormous costs of colonization. They developed a maze of the canal system in the delta to grow three rice crops in a year.
“During World War II, when the Japanese occupied Vietnam and exploited the rich delta by exporting rice to their country, it denied nearly several million Vietnamese of their essential staple.
“At the end of the Vietnamese war in 1975, the country faced acute hardships. Communist Party members of the national party were at a low rung and entrusted with managerial responsibility for developing the Mekong delta in South Vietnam. And the Communist regime established cooperative farming through communes.
“The government also supplied the farmers with seed, fertilizer, and other essentials. As this helped the poor farmers, it was popularly called “the iron rice bowl” – this allegory was to convey that “no one would get rich by this system, there was a promise that every person would be cared for by the government; a system where no one would fall through the cracks.”
“Thus, all the rice-growing delta fields became the state property. People wanting to buy and carry rice from the delta got 80 kilograms allocation, subject to strict monitoring at police check posts. Devastating floods and insect infestation of large fields further aggravated this condition.
“Realizing the folly of State Control, the Government of Vietnam, in 1986, allowed the farmers “to grow and sell their rice.” Sure enough, farmers received incentives to grow rice in the delta, and Vietnam became one of the leading exporters of rice. Then came the Wetland Development initiative, including the most significant Land Law (1994) that gave rights to the farmers and accelerated growth of the Mekong Delta and increased income to the people.” [Wikipedia]
Vietnam Food Association Charter.
“It is a social and occupational organization of Vietnam enterprises from all economic sectors operating in the field of production, processing, and trading food, agricultural products, and other products processed from food; voluntarily joining together to establish the Association to co-ordinate food trading activities to ensure business efficiency for the protection of legitimate interests of its members.
“The Association shall contribute to boosting production development, building material, and technical facilities for the improvement of product quality and business efficiency of the food commodity industry and ensuring food security in compliance with the policies of the State.” [ABOUT US - Vietnam Food Association (vietfood.org.vn)]
Do we see how Vietnamese farmers understand the “common good”? Said differently, they don’t suffer from the crab mentality.
Should we stop and ponder?
Can we expect Juan de la Cruz to embrace the common good and toss the values of hierarchy and paternalism? And develop a hardy mindset – to hold dearly the challenge we face and commit to overcoming them while recognizing that we have no control over others and that the onus to change is on us.
Do we see that colonization was not all bad for the Vietnamese? The French developed a maze of the canal system in the delta to grow three rice crops in a year. Then think of the OFW phenomenon – today a significant leg of the Philippine economy – and the Filipino facility for the English language courtesy of the [medium of instruction left by the] Americans.
Here’s a quote from an earlier posting: “Recall how often the blog raised the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone ecosystem (in Guangdong, China) as the best practice model to attract foreign money and technology. And all that Vietnam did was replicate the China experience and find a partner in Samsung.
“Why does the blog keep distinguishing “analysis” and “analytics”? Please recall the article, “The 50-year ‘disease’ in Philippine agriculture.” Yet, from rice tariffication, and we now want to do the rest of the agri products to address shortages. That is how “analysis” looks. On the other hand, the Vietnamese learned “analytics” from the Asian Tigers, which they translated to “ecosystem.” Consider: The operations of Samsung entail a vast ecosystem. And not to forget that Vietnam is a top rice exporter like Thailand. The agri ecosystem of both countries is something we want to learn. It is beyond liberalizing the agriculture sector.”
Liberalizing the agriculture sector is not why Vietnam is a significant rice exporter. Instead, they live by the imperative of an ecosystem, and the Vietnam Food Association is an excellent example. Can we Filipinos toss the crab mentality?
What else has Vietnam exploited to be a world-class rice producer? And this should make us Filipinos cry because we should have been the first to benefit from rice R&D.
If our economic managers are listening, tariffication is too technocratic yet won’t make the Philippines a world-class rice producer like Vietnam.
Between being academic and ideological would instead consign us to the cellar.
On the other hand, Vietnam has exploited IRRI. “The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), headquartered in the Philippines, has significantly enhanced the knowledge base of rice farming in Vietnam. Their research efforts have continually aimed to grow rice faster with higher yields. That has boosted the confidence level of Vietnamese scientists who hope their country will one day be the rice producer to feed the world. The IRRI has trained and worked with Vietnamese scientists since 1970. The scientists trained by IRRI now hold key positions in rice research institutions, universities, and government organizations.”
But let’s go back to the think tank urging us to focus on domestic industry and agri, but skeptical about FDIs.
Here’s a quote from an earlier posting: “2017 was a year of great significance for both the Vietnamese economy and Samsung Vietnam. Vietnam’s export turnover for the first time in history reached more than 214 billion USD, and Samsung Vietnam’s export turnover also achieved a breakthrough with more than 54 billion USD for the first time.
“Samsung Vietnam contributes more than 25% to the total export turnover of Vietnam. This miraculous figure is 150 times higher than Samsung Vietnam’s total export turnover in 2009 ($350 million) when SEV began production.
“As of June 2018, Samsung has reached the milestone of 1 billion high-tech innovative products manufactured in Vietnam. The 1 billion products include smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and other essential mobile phone products.
“The Samsung Bac Ninh factory produced more than 625 million products, and Samsung Thai Nguyen made more than 431 million. Vietnam is currently the second largest smartphone export in the world after China, and Samsung plays a significant role in this achievement.”
The bottom line: Vietnam overtook us in 2020 when their export revenues reached almost $260 billion against our close to $80 billion. Moreover, they put poverty in the rearview mirror.
But let’s hear the think tank: “More countries are closing than opening over the last decade because they are protecting their economies (from a possible recession).”
And given the rising far-right extremism, characterized by protectionism, IBON Foundation has all the right to be true to its ideology.
Those familiar with the blog know I chose (as a volunteer development worker) to represent freedom, democracy, and the free market in Eastern Europe. And while my former Fortune 500 company obtained a blue passport for me – given my role in the company with over 200 markets or countries – I opted not to exercise the right to vote.
Recall this quote from a recent posting: “Business” is the most trusted element in society. The reason is that people have given up on politicians who seem to be out for themselves and gridlocked. Most top-ranking politicians are in their 70s and 80s and unfamiliar with what people need.”
Recall, too, that as a practitioner and not an academic, I speak from real-world experiences. For example, the 21st-century demands “innovation and global competitiveness.” And that is not surprising because we are a subset of this universe in constant motion and expansion.
Countries cannot produce everything they need, i.e., interdependence is the law of nature. And like a broken record, the blog never fails to speak to the photosynthesis phenomenon.
But that is not an academic assertion. Let’s take a peek at the business of my Eastern European friends.
And I mean a peek because I am doing this here in the Philippines, logging in to our intranet, which I do every day wherever I am. And I can see what is going on. But I don’t do analysis. I do analytics. Everyone in the company does “analysis,” but I keep them in dynamic mode.
As noted below, I am talking about how the prior year ended and how this year will play out. Why? To keep their eye on the future, what they are doing today, as was the prior year, must build on what they must be.
[But to Filipinos, we better keep an eye on Vietnam because they want to be the world’s top rice producer. And tariffication and ideology can’t be our response. And more fundamentally, we must know where we want to be. For example, we want to be a first-world economy and nation. That is what we want to figure out. And if we’re going to become such a wealthy nation, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel and be bogged down by ideological debates. All we need is to “learn it all” from our neighbors. We must overcome the “know it all” hubris. Consider: We are the laughingstock stock of the region; hubris can’t be in our consciousness.]
Firstly, my Eastern European friends were born and raised as socialists under Soviet rule. Yet, instead of the promised utopia, the Soviets left them the poorest European country. And hence the wife’s first reaction when we arrived was unsurprising, “What are we doing in this godforsaken place?”
They are into making and selling day-to-day consumer products, not high-technology devices, and I have assisted them for the last twenty years.
Question: Don’t day-to-day consumer products risk being shut out in the global market because locals can quickly produce them?
We Filipinos may feel that way, given that innovation and global competitiveness are foreign to us.
Can we accept that reality, or does national pride compel us to be in denial? But recall that our mantra is to cater to the bottom of the pyramid, given our values of hierarchy and paternalism, shooting ourselves in the foot, unable to run astride with our neighbors that begged for foreign money and technology and catapulted them to first-world economies and nations.
Consider the state of the business of these friends: They have 18 brands they market in several countries. Four represent 79% of the company: three regional and one global brand.
Last year’s total sales revenues rose 27%, and this year will be up 35%. The number two brand is the global brand which accounts for 17% of the business. In 2022, its revenues were up 40% from sales in 70 countries; this year, it will grow 47%.
Seven of the top ten markets are in Eastern Europe, and the balance is in the West: Germany, the US, and the UK.
Noteworthy is a fast-growing global brand. In 2022, its sales grew by 143%; this year, it will be up 195%.
But what is it about “innovation and global competitiveness” demanded by the 21st century?
It is understanding the human need – even for day-to-day consumer products – and figuring out the best-in-class metrics. It means employing forward, lateral, and creative thinking continually. In other words, the enterprise, consistent with the dynamism of this universe, must constantly be elevating the brand to attain the best-in-class metrics.
Still, adhering to Pareto and the imperative to prioritize is a must. And that is why among the 18 brands, the enterprise focuses on the top four and the next two most promising ones.
Question: How come these Eastern European friends who grew up behind the “iron curtain” confidently reach out to the rest of the world? Twenty years ago, they weren’t a profitable going concern, yet today are giant killers.
They’ve turned their back on the utopia promised by their Soviet masters and chose to pursue freedom, democracy confidently, and the free market — because they know the future is in their hands. It’s called a “hardy mindset,” familiar to those who read the blog.
Scanning our media scene, do we recognize the elements of ideology, the academic, or the real world?
Given that we are a subset set of this universe in constant motion and expansion, on the one hand, and on the other, ideology and the academic world, when they are static, may pull us away from the “real world.”
And that is why the blog has challenged our worldview over the last fourteen years.
Consider: Juan de la Cruz moved from the basket case of Asia to the perennial regional laggard. And between being ideological and academic could consign us to the cellar.
But then again, the Philippine caste system reinforces our values of hierarchy and paternalism, and they would explain why poverty and hunger have defined Juan de la Cruz.
Gising bayan!
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