SINCE the time of former agriculture secretary Manny Piñol, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has been urging the government to increase the yearly budget of the department so that it would be in a better position to fulfill its mandate of “feeding millions,” as the title of Piñol’s book says.
The 2022 National Expenditure Program is the last budget of the Duterte administration yet the agriculture sector has stayed in the non-priority list of the government. It’s no wonder that from 2010 to 2020, agriculture was below industry and services in contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). During the past three years (2018 to 2020), it notched 9.65%, 8.82% and 10.18 percent respectively.
In the budget for next year which is under consideration by Congress, the total allocation for the country’s food production programs is P152.1 billion, which is equivalent to 3 percent of the P5.024-trillion proposed national budget. Of the P152.1 billion, the share of the DA is pegged at P72 billion, or 1.2 percent.
‘We do not need SWS surveys to tell us the severity of the hunger problem among Filipinos in the wake of the pandemic, and the least Congress and the Executive can do is try hard
to produce more food, and thus
allocate more funds for this necessary and important undertaking.’
With the wolves of hunger threatening many Filipinos during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, when hundreds are out of job and livelihood opportunities are few because of the closure of many businesses, this allocation for agriculture and food production is indeed “paltry,” as critics from the Left said.
“The total allocation for agriculture and food production under Duterte’s last year in office is grossly insufficient. The 2022 proposed budget is a recipe for a more widespread and deeper hunger, rural poverty, and malnutrition,” said Rafael Mariano of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. Mariano used to be secretary of agrarian reform when President Duterte was still on friendly terms with the leftist movement.
Even Agriculture Secretary William Dar is saying that the proposed budget of P72 billion for his department is too small and is not enough to boost the country’s agricultural production, which has been declining for the past three quarters.
He stressed that they need “a higher budget to increase our output” and follow through their ongoing programs in rice, corn, high-value crops, poultry, livestock, and fisheries. Funds are also needed to recover the losses of small farmers and fishermen who are hardest hit by the double whammy of COVID-19 pandemic and the African swine fever.
We do not need SWS surveys to tell us the severity of the hunger problem among Filipinos in the wake of the pandemic, and the least Congress and the Executive can do is try hard to produce more food, and thus allocate more funds for this necessary and important undertaking.
