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Friday, March 29, 2024

DA ends fund ‘drought’ with outlay up 44%

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The Department of Agriculture will get a budget of P102.15 billion in 2023 – a 44 percent increase from its capital outlay this year of P71 billion.

Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto said the DA’s funding drought is now over with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as agriculture chief.

“You can say that this is the beginning of the end of a funding drought,” he said, adding that the department will “finally reap a budget increase.”

The budget hike should be supported because “to beat hunger, a country should not starve its farming sector of funds,” Recto added.

At least eight big agricultural agencies deemed as government corporations would also receive hefty increases in budgetary subsidy from the national government.

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From P46.2 billion this year, subsidies to the National Food Authority, Sugar Regulatory Administration, National Irrigation Administration, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Philippine Fisheries Development Authority, National Tobacco Administration, Philippine Coconut Authority, and National Dairy Authority would go up to P62 billion – a 33 percent bump.

Of the eight, the NFA will get the biggest hike – a 71 percent jump from P7 billion to P12 billion – to allow it to raise its buffer stock capacity from nine days to 15 days.

Next is SRA with a P1-billion budget subsidy or up by 41 percent from this year’s P712.2 million.

The so-called “DA Proper” – the Office of the Secretary – shall see its budget hike from P61 billion to P90.2 billion, a 48 percent or P29 billion increase, Recto said.

DA-OSEC will run the National Rice Program, whose allocation shall be doubled from P15.8 billion this year to P30.5 billion in 2023, the senator said.

Of this amount, P19.5 billion would fund fertilizer support, which Recto said “is a must at this time when fertilizer prices have gone through the roof.”

Under the DA plan, P5.2 billion would be plowed for the corn sector, P5 billion for livestock, P2 billion for high-value crops, and P5.2 billion for fisheries.

Other agencies slated to receive bigger funds are the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, up 66 percent, or from P156 million to P259 million; and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, from P4.7 billion to P6.3 billion, a 35 percent boost.

Recto said DA would also ramp up infrastructure spending, allotting P13.1 billion for farm-to-market roads and P29.5 billion for irrigation.

A global study earlier tagged the Philippines as the most food insecure in East and Southeast Asia, and 146th out of 171 countries.

“We lack so many things, such as sugar, fish, onions, and even rice. Our food import bill is rising. The steep rise in the cost of production inputs, from fertilizer to fuel, has lowered production while increasing food prices,” Recto said.

He said the agriculture budget must finance “a turnaround plan” to
boost harvest and farmers’ incomes and bring about food security.

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