#MINDANAO
Last week's column focused on the minerals and textiles sectors as ways to promote manufacturing activities and economic growth in the countryside. In my June 26, 2023 column, I focused on the coconut industry as one that can boost local economies, especially in Mindanao.
This week I will look into other areas where spurring manufacturing investments can expand economic growth.
Forestry is a sector that needs to be examined since it can boost countryside growth. Sustainable Development Goals include global forest goals, identifying that 1.6 billion humans depend on forests for livelihood. You can read these on the DENR Forest Management Bureau website: https://forestry.denr.gov.ph/index.php/global-objectives-on-forest.
Moreover, this sector can produce wood and other items essential for our construction and housing needs. Being a renewable resource, maintaining sustainable wood production farms in various areas can encourage stable local employment while allowing us to replace imported building materials with renewable, locally grown ones.
Manufacturing can expand the benefits of sustainable forests. Apart from wood products, these include pharmaceuticals using rare plants from forests, and agroforestry products such as natural rubber and bamboo. Innovation and technology can play a big role in ensuring the sustainable production of wood from these production farms, which includes effective nursery management, propagation, biodiversity maintenance, replanting, and production approaches to ensure the stable supply of the raw material for use in industry. We have upcoming producers of organic biofertilizers that can be effective for growing trees from seedlings.
The rural employment generated from such enterprises can boost opportunities for locals.
The Regional Research, Development, and Innovation Committees (RRDICs) of each Regional Development Council can push research in this field with local academic institutions, the DENR, and foreign counterparts in countries such as New Zealand. I believe responsible use of our forest resources expands its benefits for more and encourages us to conserve these resources since they are where we get livelihoods.
What I’m reading now
Just finished reading Brick by Brick: Building the change you want by Filipino HR and strategy practitioner Myke Santos. It’s a short read that talks about how change management processes can take place within ourselves or the organizations we run and lead. The book helps the reader navigate the process of change by breaking it down into key concepts, or bricks, beginning with understanding the intention or a strong sense of purpose. It ends with the need to engage in play, a process that allows us to enjoy the journey by tapping into childlike curiosity and creativity, which are essential elements that allow us to easily navigate and build the change we seek while keeping our heads and hearts in change processes that can, in truth be stressful and intimidating.
The author's unpretentious prose and comfortable font (points to the publisher) make reading easy for busy people. The pages flow from concept to illustrative story to deftly illuminate the points and provide an insight into the facilitation methods of which he is a certified practitioner. This is a good companion book for those hitting vital epochs in life, such as those contemplating a career shift, moving to a new city, tiptoeing the edge of the empty nest, hurdling over the big 50, 60, or 70, or wanting to move their organization to new heights or markets in a changing world. As we are all reeling from the adjustments made in the aftermath of the pandemic, this book will strike a chord in many, a desire to engage the change process that may have long been put off.