Personnel of the Department of Agriculture (DA) are set to get a bonus following the DA’s 125th founding anniversary.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday made the announcement and added that the agency has the savings for it. Mr. Marcos, who is concurrently the DA chief, also said he wanted the DA personnel to be happy and “to smile” during a photo opportunity and vowed to give the bonus.
The President, in a speech further reiterated his commitment to modernize agriculture equipment to boost production, saying they need to achieve more goals.
Mr. Marcos also said that the agriculture sector will always be an important contributor to the nation’s economy, noting that the government should continuously develop this sector. He also underscored the importance of agriculture to the growth and development of the Philippine economy.
“Agriculture is and will always be an important contributor to our national economy. In the first quarter of 2023, the agriculture sector grew by 2.2 percent while contributing 9.1 percent to our total gross domestic product,” the chief executive noted.
“And every analysis, even if it’s not the farmers who do the analysis, even those in the banks, even the World Bank, ADB, they always say your economy will not grow if you don’t improve this sector because everything we do in the economy is based on a strong and vibrant agricultural sector,” the President added.
The President said that despite some modest gains, there are still several undertakings ahead to improve the sector through several programs and projects.
“That’s why we need to observe, study and guard the various forces that we feel sometimes become an obstacle to our performance. Those are decreasing productivity, climate change, diminishing natural resources, and our market is also changing,” President Marcos said.
“But through the years, the DA banner programs and projects have continuously provided farm inputs, credit assistance, equipment, machinery, production and post-harvest facilities.That also includes farm-to-market roads and our irrigation to improve our productivity,” he added.
The President said that the DA will continue to come up with programs to advance agri-fishery practices, improve the competitiveness of the country’s agri-fishery products, and further boost the income of Filipino farmers and fisherfolk.
“Let us continue to engage in collaborative dialogue with experts, researchers, [and] rural workers to solve the roots of the lingering problems,” the President said.
“Learn and adopt climate-resilient and cutting edge agricultural technologies so that we can be prepared for prospective contingencies,” he added.
President Marcos also pointed out that the country must adopt and use the latest technologies and best practices that will not only boost the nation’s productivity and quality of life of Filipinos but “will also open more doors to investments and market opportunities for our friends from outside of the Philippines.”
The President also recognized the efforts of the personnel of DA and all of its attached agencies and bureaus for their valuable contribution and dedication to serving and shaping the country’s society.
“If there is one thing that I had always recognized, I really came to realize this when I was Governor of Ilocos Norte and I was trying to promote some of the agricultural sectors, our aquaculture, our rice expansion. Everything we did including the payment of inputs, if there is one thing I learned at that time, there are a lot of really good people in the Department of Agriculture,” he pointed out.
“And there are a lot of people – nothing is really thought of and nothing else is done if we cannot find a way to improve the lives of our farmers, to strengthen our so-called food supply,” the President said.
He added that all the goals and targets of the DA would eventually be attained because the elements needed to make them a reality are already present.
“We have all the different elements that are required. We have the expertise. We have the experience. We have the knowledge. We have the motivation to make things work. And so that is why – that is what we are trying to do, to put all your efforts into a single plan that everyone can follow,” the President said.
“That is why we often hear it said that we will coordinate and there will be a symbiosis of our work and we will come to see that these far-reaching goals that we have put before us can actually be achieved, that they will come.” he pointed out.