Bato pushes for creation of 'Nat’l Agricultural Crop Program'

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has filed a bill mandating the Department of Agriculture (DA) to craft a "National Agricultural Crop Program" to avoid unnecessary and unwanted wastage of resources.

Under the bill, the DA will be tasked to identify existing agricultural lands, recognize, and determine the specific agricultural crop or farm products responsive to each region’s natural resources, and assess the corresponding quantity to be produced for each harvest season.

“The end goal of this program is to properly manage crop growth, seed germination, sustained productivity, and manage pre-harvest and post-harvest marketing all over the country," Dela Rosa said in his bill.

An inventory of all existing agricultural land, including the present crops planted, cultivated, and harvested in each region, which will be maintained and regularly monitored and updated by the DA was proposed in the measure.

"It aims to provide sufficient supply of agricultural products and avoid overabundance of production of goods,” added Dela Rosa in his bill.

Further, Dela Rosa’s bill tasks the DA with the assistance of other related government agencies to conduct a continuing research and development on the propagation of other agricultural products that may be planted, cultivated, and harvested in the country.

In explaining the importance of the measure, Dela Rosa lamented the issue of oversupply and wastage of vegetables and fruits, as well as other food supply, tagging this as one of the pressing concerns that the government must address.

An example that Dela Rosa cited is the case of farmers in Nueva Vizcaya who were forced to throw away kilograms of tomatoes due to oversupply.

“Unplanned and excessive supply of vegetables and fruits is a perennial concern in our agricultural [sector]. And one possible cause is the lack of agricultural crop programming or planning in the country,” he pointed out. —VAL,  GMA Integrated News