Agriculture to suffer biggest budget cut

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture would suffer the biggest budgetary cut among state agencies in 2004.

Under the plan set by the Department of Budget and Management, funds for the agriculture department, including those for projects, would go down by P16.2 billion, from P64.5 billion this year to P48.3 billion next year.

Of that reduction, P14.3 billion would come from the office of the agriculture secretary, whose funding would go down from P56.6 billion this year to P42.3 billion in 2004.

 The budget of the agriculture department does not include billions in taxpayers’ subsidy to the National Food Authority, which, according to President, was is in debt by more than P170 billion at the start of his term, and whose officials once said their agency was created not to earn but to lose money.

Agriculture is forecast to grow next year by 3.3-3.4 percent, while industry would expand by 7.4-8.6 percent and services by 6.5-7.4 percent.

Funding for the farming sector is covered by a special law, the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, which calls for the allocation of at least P20 billion a year for agriculture modernization-related programs and projects.

Another agency that would suffer a budget cut is the Department of Tourism, whose funds would be reduced by P700 million, from P2.9 billion this year to P2.2 billion in 2014.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources would lose P1.3 billion, from P23.1 billion this year to the proposed funding ceiling of P21.8 billion for next year.

Funding for the Department of Agrarian Reform would be reduced by more than P700 million, from P21.038 billion this year to P20.254 billion next year.

On the other hand, the Department of Public Works and Highways would receive the biggest budgetary increase in 2014. Its outlay would go up by P33.8 billion, from P155.5 billion this year to P189.3 billion next year.

Funds for the Department of Education would jump by P22.6 billion to P255.2 billion from P232.6 billion. However, funding for 110 state colleges and universities would go down by P900 million, from P32.8 billion to P31.9 billion.

Clarifying a story in The STAR about the reduction in the planned combined funding for state schools, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has said the funding ceilings are not “inflexible.”

He said it would be misleading to interpret these are final figures.