By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
After a precocious and propitious introduction of Mr. Zac Sarian to developmental agri-journalism (or developmental journalism as some would put it), he had continued to show how one could succeed, to borrow a cliché, where others fear to tread.
Several decades ago, Mr. Zac Sarian, made a choice. Instead of pursuing his foreign service career where he is eligible, he chose agri-based journalism at a time when it was considered unglamorous, and therefore almost no journo wanted to specialize in it. That was a fortuitous decision. No agri-journalist in the Philippines can lay claim of being more popular or better than him. In this field, his name really rings the loudest bell up to this time.
His journalism journey was littered with various awards such as Agribusiness Journalist of the Year Award by the Rotary Club of Manila, Outstanding Print Media Award (three times) from the Department of Science and Technology), Most Outstanding Science Communicator Award from the National Academy of Science and Technology, Brightleaf Journalism Award for Best Tobacco Story , and J. Burgos Biotechnology Award for Best Feature Story. It was capped by the Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts, an award considered as the Asian version of the prestigious global award, the Nobel Prize. Anyone receiving this award should really have a real feeling of accomplishment since it is conferred only after an incognito team had thoroughly combed, evaluated and verified the credentials of any nominated candidate.
When I asked him what among his awards were dearest to him, he did not cite any but made special mention of the Magsaysay award.
After more than 5 decades of agri-journalism, Mr. Sarian is still very active into it. He can easily shame a middle-aged guy with his seemingly boundless energy. Now beat this: he writes his Agri Plain Talk column in the M. Bulletin twice a week (now 21 years running), a weekly column in Panorama magazine, and writes a blog (zacsarian.com) with 2,000 daily visitors. This is in addition to his work as editor of the agriculture section of the Bulletin, and the most widely circulated magazine of its kind in the Philippines, the Agriculture magazine. His articles also come out in vernacular magazines like Bannawag (Ilocano), Bisaya (Cebuano), Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Liwayway (Tagalog or Pilipino). This is not to mention his time in running his business concerns, and his constant travels around the Philippines and elsewhere. On top of that, he co-anchors a radio program, Kaunlaran sa Agrikultura, every Sunday morning from 4:30 to 7:00 o’clock on DWWW.
At his age, one wonders where his energy is coming from. Somebody suggested that it is due to his penchant for eating saluyot.
He was with the Bulletin since 1991 but is still a full-time employee there though he is already way past retirement age. According to him in his blog, the Bulletin don’t retire you for as long as you can do your job. He is very thankful to Bulletin chairman, Dr. Emilio T. Yap, “ because he is giving great importance to Agriculture in his newspaper.”
Sarian had churned out 8 books on agriculture, 4 of which are still in the market. They dealt mainly with successful agri practitioners, and how to start an agri-based business.
Mr. Zac Sarian has extensively travelled throughout the Philippines, including the Cordilleras for business, and agricultural journalism. He said, once more in his blog, “I travel a lot to the provinces in connection with my journalistic work because I want to meet and write about actual farmers, especially the successful ones so I can feature their success secrets, their strategies and insights”. Of course, he also made trips to Vietnam, Korea, Australia, Nepal, Germany, U.S., Taiwan, Japan and other countries, as invited resource speaker on agriculture.
His ventures into agribusiness was fanned by his journalistic activities. His influence is not confined to the country. He is read internationally. One of his articles was even translated in India, with his permission, and used for agricultural development purposes. Sarian’s popularity as an agriculture journalist preceded him in Singapore. On his first visit in that tiny city state, he met Darren Ng, owner of Dow Flora, a Singapore-based company dealing with flowers and other ornamental plants. It is with this opportune meeting that he earnestly started to go into marketing of plants. He thus put up the Sarvey Plant International to serve as the vehicle of his plant exports. This allowed him to continue dealing with international clients, including those in Thailand, Taiwan and others.
He started to hunt plants on a nationwide scale. Tanay, Rizal was where he did the most memorable hunting. He found new types there, especially the Aglaonemas (the silver type and the pink-petioled) which were highly-prized then. He sold them in Singapore and Thailand and later found them adorning hotels in Malaysia. Bicol is another fruitful ground for new types. His huntings were done at a time when the country had no clear laws yet about movement of plants.
His love for ornamentals and furious hunting activities led to the naming of one after him, Alocasia sarian by a member of the Aroids society.
When the demand for ornamentals waned, he shifted to fruits. He said, it is due to a “present advantage”. His clients grew to include Muslims and OFWs from various places. All the while, he was furiously pursuing his agri-journalism. Challenged to practice what he is writing, he started his nursery in 1977, initially dealing with ornamental plants. This was also necessitated by the fact that as demand increased then, his suppliers also increased their prices, reducing his margin of profit.
In 1985, he started his one-hectare fruit tree nursery in Teresa, Rizal intending to collect the best varieties of various fruit trees from different countries and make them available to local farmers. He wanted “to prove that even a small piece of land could be made productive and profitable with the right technology and common sense”. This cemented his being a hands-on farmer and agri-journalist.
Today, his fruit varieties come, among others from Thailand, Vietnam, Florida (USA). Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, Florida, Malaysia, India, Israel, Brazil and the Philippines. His nursery currently has: makopa, pommelo, mango, cacao, jackfruit, avocado, duhat, guava, abiu, marang, guyabano, sweet kamias, banana, mabolo, chico, saluyot, balimbing, alokon, ashitaba, calamansi, orange, other citrus. Seedlings of these could be ordered from his farm.
Sarian founded the Agri-Kapihan in 1986, a forum where, in his own words, experts, hands-on farmers and hobbyists share their experiences. It is where agri aficionados meet new friends and possible business contacts. It is free to the public and is now held every second Sunday of the month at the AANI Urban Farm in Antipolo City, and every last Saturday of the month at the Agribusiness Development Center at the Department of Agriculture in Quezon City.”
Because of what he had done and still doing, some call him the “living legend” of local agri-journalism. His agri-journalism journey is still very much in the upswing. In fact, last week, he featured in his blog some agriculture technologies and happenings in the Cordillera, particularly in BSU.**
