GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PIA) -- Agriculture Secretary William Dar insisted that the budget allocation for agriculture is insufficient to address the need of every farmer.
At a press conference Tuesday (Nov 17), Sec. Dar asked legislators to heed the agency’s call for an increased budget as he singled out government “underinvested” support on agriculture, the foundation for food security.
According to him, DA has been allocated only P90 billion out of the almost P5 trillion (P4.506T) budget of the Philippine government for the fiscal year. “Kulang na kulang ang investment sa agrikultura, underinvested. Kulang ang budgetary support na ibinibigay pa rin ng gobyerno sa agrikultura. So, palagi naming sinasabi during hearings namin sa kongreso, sa senado, kulang.”
(There is not enough investment on agriculture, it’s underinvested. There is a lack of government budgetary support on agriculture. That’s why we always say during our hearings in Congress, at the Senate that it is not enough.)
Dar rationalized that P90 billion is insufficient to especially support the needs of other cluster industries under the agricultural sector.
“What is 90 billion? If we follow the quality principle, annually, with the 10%, sabihin na lang nating 10% contribution of agriculture to the economy, we should have 10% of the annual budget. What is 10% of 5 trillion? That should be 500 billion, but we are only getting 90 billion,” he told General Santos City media.
Dar went on to say that they’ve been submitting to Congress higher budget every year. “So ‘yun, we have been proposing higher very significant budget, but what was being given, what is being approved is only 90 billion this year.”
But he said that he also expects for other agricultural commodities to eventually improve just like the country’s staple rice, saying that DA has been seeing some signs.
In 2020, rice production recorded highest at a 19.4 million metric tons “topping the country’s self-sufficiency level” despite the COVID-19 global pandemic.
With more than P30 billion combined budget with that of National Irrigation Administration, Dar described rice commodity as “properly funded” compared to others, expressing confidence that it would set again a new record harvest to break 20 million metric tons a year.
The secretary also cited other priority commodities under high-value crops such as banana, mango, kasoy, coffee, cacao, and dragon fruit, which may generate high investment returns but remain “underfunded” with roughly P1 billion budget.
“How can you support all these industries if you only have 1 billion? So ‘yun, that’s one sector na underfunded, underinvested, but the returns are high,” he said, as he responded to media asking him to comment on a statement made by some presidential candidates that agricultural exports can spike high income for the country.
“And it is true, we can export. We are now exporting banana, almost… itong cacao even, coffee, coconut oil. Mas marami pa tayong mai-export kung mas maraming pondo na isuporta sa high value agriculture. So ‘yun, tulungan niyo po kami, kulang ang budget sa agriculture (We can export more if there is more fund to support high value agriculture. So help us. There is insufficient budget for agriculture).” (CTA/PIA-12 SarGen)
