Angara, who spoke at the Mindanao Food Congress spearheaded by the multisectoral group Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM), said he is pressing Congress which is now discussing the proposal to extend the lifespan of AFMA for another five years to ensure that Mindanao, which accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s total food production, gets enough funds.
The solon who once served as secretary of agriculture said government’s failure to sufficiently fund AFMA projects has been hurting Mindanao the most.
"The benign neglect of the agriculture sector in Mindanao has stunted the region’s potential to become a major agricultural player in the Asian market. This region of awesome natural resources remains a land of great but unfulfilled promises," said Angara.
Angara, the principal author of AFMA, said for instance that while Mindanao is the only region in the country that was declared free of the foot and mouth disease, lack of proper infrastructure to transport livestock in big markets like Manila and neighboring countries, is preventing producers from distributing their products.
Mindanao, he said, is not getting enough support to really maximize the potentials of tis top export commodities such as tuna, bananas, pineapples and seaweeds.
The region also delivers 60 percent of total corn produce, 32 percent of cattle, 39 percent of goat, and 37 percent of carabao production.
Despite its contribution to the country’s total food production, Angara said Mindanao has been getting very little from the National Government.
He said that from 1997 to 2003, Mindanao got an average of 10 percent of total national budget compared to Luzon’s 21 percent and Visayas’ eight percent.
"This budgetary pie has resulted to a more difficult life for our countrymen in the area. The ARMM and CARAGA have recorded the highest poverty incidence among the country’s regions. ARMM has the lowest literacy rate of 73.6 percent while CARAGA has the third highest prevalence of malnutrition at 33.5 percent," noted Angara.