Congress orders gov’t agencies to fund AFMA

Congress has mandated the concerned government agencies to provide funding for the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) which extends  tax perks to importers of  agriculture and fishery machine and equipment until 2015.

The amended AFMA, approved by the bicameral Congressional Oversight Committee on Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM), requires a yearly budgetary support of  P17 billion.

To ensure adequate funding this time, Congress said that on top of  the regular budget of  the Department of  Agriculture (DA), funding for AFMA will come from 20 percent of  the proceeds of the securitization of government assets, including the Subic and Clark special economic zones. 

The other agencies that will be tapped for funding are the Public Estates Authority or its successor agency which will contribute 50 percent of its net earnings to the AFMA fund.

The TESDA Skills Development Fund will also be remitting  40 percent of  its revenues to the program.

COCAFM chairman Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said Congress will also ensure that net proceeds from the privatization of the Food Terminal Inc. will go to AFMA.

At the same time, fees and other revenues collected by  the Bureau of Animal Industry, the Bureau of Plant Industry and other assets recommended by the DA for privatization will be channeled to the program. 

The amended AFMA also specifies that a portion of  the proceeds from the countervailing, anti-dumping and special safeguards duties collected from agricultural imports will also be used to support AFMA.

The new law should help the farming and fishing sectors to improve their productivity and competitiveness under the new global regime," said Magsaysay Jr. earlier.

Among the salient  features of the new legislation include extending the effectivity of granting tax incentives to agribusiness enterprises and the mandated funding support for AFMA’s implementation until 2015. The original lifespan of AFMA and its funding support is until 2005.