An Icon is gone! Sad Day for Phil. Agriculture Zacarias Sarian Passes Away

One of the most enduring and iconic figures in Philippine Agriculture who was considered by all Agriculture Journalists as their Father and Dean, Zacarias B. Sarian, passed away yesterday at age 83.

As a journalist, I never really had the opportunity of working closely with Mang Zac because he joined the Manila Bulletin just a year before I decided to resign from Tempo, which is also owned by the Bulletin Publishing Corp.

But Zac was a giant among the Agriculture figures.

Through his writings, he inspired many to try their hands in Agriculture and he made farming seem so easy with his very clear how-to-do articles.

Mang Zac simply loved farming and he never dipped his finger into the political side of Agriculture.

In fact, I have never read an article he wrote which was critical of the government’s agriculture programs or of any agriculture official.

He simply wrote about plants and farming.

As a farmer myself who read a lot of Mang Zac’s articles, his passing creates a void.

Of course, there are young agriculture journalists now but I don’t think I would see in my lifetime somebody as passionate about farming as Mang Zac.

I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Dean Zacarias Balong Sarian.

(Photo of Zac Sarian was downloaded from his Facebook page.)