The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) said the Department of Agriculture (DA) should consider changes in the budget allocation of different segments for 2025.
Danilo Fausto, PCAFI president, told reporters in a briefing in Quezon City yesterday budget for rice programs must be slashed to give way for additional funding to high value crops and other segments.
Fausto said the DA must “correct the disparity of the existing budget for 2024 to bring at least to a near level the distribution of resources to other agriculture sector.”
Citing his aid memoire dated March 7 to the DA, Fausto said of the P197.84 billion budget this year, 60 percent or P118.66 billion has been allocated for rice; P24.02 billion for fisheries; P6.15 billion for livestock and poultry; P5.03 billion for high value crops and other crops; and the remaining P43.98 billion for other expenses of the DA.
Fausto said last year, rice contributed 23.03 percent in the country’s agricultural output while high value crops provided a higher share of 33.78 percent.
Livestock and poultry with 30 percent and fisheries with 13.4 percent.
Fausto said of the total budget of P200 billion for 2025, P86 billion must be allocated for rice; P30 billion for livestock and poultry; P25 billion for fisheries; P15 billion for high value crops and the remaining P44 billion for other expenses of DA.
PCAFI said the government should also consider establishing a coffee and cacao institute in Laguna or Cavite with an estimated budget of P1 billion while also planting at least 5 million trees with a budget of P500 million.
Fausto asked DA to make available at least P1 billion credit facility for coffee and another P500 million each for the establishment of an instant coffee facility operated by farmers’ cooperative and a coffee trading post or hub.
This would boost coffee production locally.
PCAFI said 85 percent of coffee in the country is imported.
The group said to close the 4 million metric tons shortage of local corn used in the manufacture of animal feeds, the DA must beef up post-harvest facilities in areas with twice a year harvest and allocate P500 million budget for every 1,000 hectares of land planted to corn.
Fausto also supports the consolidation and clustering of corn producers to improve logistics and lessen the involvement of middlemen.
PCAFI pushes for the promotion of the planting of cassava in upland areas as it can also be used to manufacture feeds.
