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Agri Dept. seeks P12-B budget augmentation for 2022


The Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking a P12-billion augmentation to its recommended P95-billion budget for 2022 to address food and agriculture global challenges.

In a letter to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the country is in need of a “lifeline” to sustain its productivity and meet its food security needs.

The DA's proposed P12-billion augmentation includes P8.9 billion for fertilizer subsidy, P2 billion for additional budget for corn program, and P1.1 billion for urban agriculture.

"We are entering a ‘New World'— the global scale of the 'new normal' as an offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic — wherein every country in the world is coping with huge challenges. These include the lingering and mutating Covid-19 pandemic, increasing prices of petrol, fertilizers and feeds, climate change, population dynamics, urbanization and aging farmers, and preventing entry of transboundary animal and plant diseases," Dar said.

"These global challenges will continue to impact adversely on food production, distribution, and consumption next year and beyond. Hence, in the case of the Philippines and we at the Department of Agriculture, there is a felt need for bigger budgetary support,” he added.

The DA’s request came after the Senate on Wednesday approved on third and final reading the General Appropriations Bill (GAB) containing the P5-trillion national budget for 2022, the last under President Rodrigo Duterte's term. 

The members of the Senate and the House of Representatives will then meet in a bicameral conference to reconcile the disagreeing provisions of the version of the budget bill passed by both houses.

“We believe that there is an urgency for the government to support our farmers in dealing with these global and local challenges,” Dar said.

“The increase in prices of inorganic fertilizers due to the declining global supply has been alarming. Big countries and producers have stocked up most of the fertilizer supply to ensure their local requirements for crop production and food security,” he said.

Other threats such as the rising oil prices, increasing prices of raw materials for feeds, and increasing cost of transport due to backlog in logistics transport service are adding to the lingering effect of the pandemic, which is still affecting the global supply chain, the DA chief added.

“Now, more than ever, the OneDA family will strongly encourage local government units and the private sector to invest in agriculture and fishery infrastructure and livelihood projects, particularly in palay procurement, provision of drying, storage and rice milling facilities, farmers' trading and consolidation centers, cold storage facilities and logistics like reefer and food delivery vans,” he said.

The DA chief said that the DA will also encourage more foreign direct investments, tasking its marketing and international affairs teams to package big ticket investment projects, under the lead of DA undersecretary for fisheries and for agri-industrialization Cheryl Marie Natividad Caballero.

The DA is also looking into strengthening research and development, farm-to-market roads, postharvest facilities including cold-chain, small irrigation systems such as rainwater catchment basin, access to credit for small farmers, and ports, markets.

Dar said there is a need to devote more resources to crops where the country has comparative advantage, resulting in greater exports, and encourage Filipino farmers, fishers and entrepreneurs to be more cost-efficient and world class quality-conscious.

He said the DA will also continue to focus on promoting farm consolidation and clustering in partnership with farmers' cooperatives and associations (FCAs), LGUs, and the private sector, including foreign investors.

Finally, as the LGUs will receive more budget starting January 2022 in compliance with the "Mandanas-Garcia ruling of the Supreme Court," the DA will counterpart with LGUs in building agri-fishery infrastructure, and pursuing production, processing and marketing projects, including the implementation of the Province-led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Systems (PAFES).

"Rest assured that we at the OneDA family will continue to prioritize local production through the use of modern science and technology to increase the productivity and incomes of our farmers, fisherfolk and agripreneurs, young and old," Dar said. — RSJ, GMA News

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