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| Romulo Davide. Photo taken from dost.gov.ph |
By Tina G. Santos
“There are no barren soils, only barren
minds.”
A Filipino agricultural scientist planted his
father’s advice deep in his heart. Now, he is among this year’s winners of the
Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.
Romulo Davide, born in the mountain village
of Colawin in Argao, Cebu province, was recognized for “his steadfast passion
in placing the power and discipline of science in the hands of farmers in the
Philippines, who have consequently multiplied their yields, created productive
farming communities, and rediscovered the dignity of their labor,” the award
foundation said on Wednesday.
With a doctorate and advanced training in the
United States and Ireland, Davide, 78, is one of the country’s top scientists,
hailed as the “Father of Plant Nematology” for his years of teaching and groundbreaking
research on nematode pests that infest, debilitate and destroy agricultural
crops.
His discovery of nematode-trapping fungi led
to the development of Biocon, the first Philippine biological control product
that can be used against nematode pests attacking vegetables, banana, potato,
citrus, pineapple, rice and other crops. The product is a practical substitute
for highly toxic and expensive chemical nematicides, according to the
foundation.
Other awardees
Besides Davide, the other Magsaysay awardees
for this year come from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Taiwan. The
award is named after the late Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, who
died in a plane crash in 1957.
A total of 290 other laureates have
previously received the Magsaysay prize.
The winners will receive their awards—a
certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of Magsaysay, and a $50,000 cash
prize each—in Manila on August 31.
The award is given every year to individuals
or organizations in Asia who typify Magsaysay’s sense of selfless service, the
foundation said.
Lives transformed
“The awardees of 2012 are six remarkable
individuals, all deeply involved in creating sustainable solutions to poverty
and its accompanying disempowerment—whether in the forests or on farmlands, in
exploitative industries or in inadequate education,” foundation president
Carmencita Abella said in a statement.
“Working selflessly in unpretentious yet
powerful ways, they are showing how commitment, competence, and collaborative
leadership can truly transform millions of individual lives and galvanize
progressive community action.”
Abella cited the awardees’ passion for
improving others’ lives. “They all refuse to give up, despite adversity and
opposition. They are all deeply rooted in hope,” she said.
Outstanding scientist
Davide’s numerous awards included the
“Outstanding Agricultural Scientist” by the Department of Agriculture in 1994.
He used his award money to launch in Colawin the corn-based Farmer-Scientists
Training Program (FSTP), which aimed to turn farmers into “farmer-scientists”
able to do experiments, discover effective techniques, manage the market and
increase production, the foundation said.
It said the project enabled farmers to
increase corn yields six to 12 times over and adopt intercropping system and
animal production technologies that further increased their incomes.
The national government adopted the FSTP in
2008 for countrywide implementation, with the Department of Agriculture and the
University of the Philippines-Los Baños as lead implementors and Davide as
program leader.
Now, the FSTP is being implemented in 20
provinces.
Pure altruism
Chen Shu-Chu (Taiwan) was cited for “the pure
altruism of her personal giving, which reflects a deep, consistent, quiet
compassion, that has transformed the lives of the numerous Taiwanese she has
helped.”
From her daily earnings as a vegetable
vendor, Chen personally gave away money to various charities, particularly for
the care and education of children.
Recipients of her generosity included a
Buddhist monastery to help it fund a school and a nonprofit Christian
organization that rescues children-at-risk and provides them with food,
shelter, clothing, medical care and education.
“Indifferent to public honors, she resists
having a foundation set up in her name and refuses to receive donations from
others, saying she prefers to give away money that she has earned herself,” the
foundation said.
Visionary zeal
Kulandei Francis (India) was cited for “his
visionary zeal, his profound faith in community energies, and his sustained
programs in pursuing the holistic economic empowerment of thousands of women
and their families in rural India.”
Francis helped organize savings-and-credit
groups which have grown into an all-women movement, the foundation said.
It said the groups’ access to credit had
fueled successful village programs on health and sanitation, housing,
livelihood and children’s education.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan (Bangladesh) was cited
for “her uncompromising courage and impassioned leadership in a campaign of
judicial activism in Bangladesh that affirms the people’s right to a good
environment as nothing less than their right to dignity and life.”
Hasan, a lawyer, has been working for the
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela).
The foundation said that through her
leadership, Bela had taken on close to 100 cases involving industrial
pollution, sand extraction from rivers, forest rights, river pollution and
encroachment, hill cutting, illegal fisheries, waste dumping and others.
Creative agriculturist
Yang Saing Koma (Cambodia) won the award for
“his creative fusion of practical science and collective will that has inspired
and enabled vast numbers of farmers in Cambodia to become more empowered and
productive contributors to their country’s economic growth.”
Championing sustainable agriculture, Koma
founded in 1997 the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac)
with a team of seven and the help of a French nongovernment organization.
“Today, Cedac has become the largest
agricultural and rural development NGO in Cambodia,” the foundation said.
Forest manager
Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto (Indonesia) was
recognized for “his sustained advocacy for community-based natural resource
management in Indonesia, leading bold campaigns to stop illegal forest
exploitation, as well as fresh social enterprise initiatives that engage the
forest communities as their full partners.”
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