‘Government must hike, diversify agriculture budget’

To boost food security

MANILA, Philippines — The government must increase and diversify its investment in agriculture to boost food production and improve the country’s food security amid local and global production woes, according to the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc.

PCAFI president Danilo Fausto said the allotted budget by the government for the agriculture sector remains “low” considering the prevalence of undernourishment and poverty incidence nationwide.

Fausto pointed out that the combined budget of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform amounted to just P221.7 billion, which is only 3.8 percent of the P5.768-trillion budget this year.

Furthermore, he said that the budget for agriculture would be at least P10 billion lower next year at P211.3 billion despite the 10-percent increase in the proposed 2025 state budget set at P6.35 trillion.

Fausto also noted that the government’s budget for agriculture is “rice-centric” with at least 60 percent of the total allocation going to the rice sector, neglecting the other subsectors that contribute significantly to overall food production and security.

“On the other hand, high value crops which contribute 33.8 percent of the total agriculture output, got a measly 2.6 percent of the total agriculture budget and the livestock sector receiving 3.1 percent of the budget while contributing 30 percent to the agriculture output, “ he said during the 25th anniversary of the PCAFI recently.

Fausto said the government must ramp-up its investments in agriculture to ensure the sustainability of the country’s food supply and meet its growing demand as the population grows by 1.9 percent annually.

“At present, the private sector accounts for 95 percent of the total agriculture investments in relation to the total agricultural output of the country,” he said.

“Providing cheap food for the consumers and fighting inflation through imports is a short-term solution. Producing our own food requirements, although a much longer process, will be more sustainable for our people,” he added.

“It goes without saying that if we allow others to feed us, we are giving them the authority to starve us,” Fausto said.

According to Fausto, the current and growing global issues like the war in Ukraine and Middle East as well as geopolitical conflicts in the region could affect the country’s food supply because of the dependence on imports.

Senate President Francis Escudero said he supports increasing the agriculture budget as the current government allocation amounts only to P13,000 per farmer or fisherfolk nationwide.

“What can that help? At present, the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways of P1 trillion is bigger than the DA. Are we an agriculture country or a country of contradictions?” Escudero said during PCAFI’s anniversary.

“Let’s put our money where our mouth is. Not until we do that, we cannot say that we really love and help our agriculture sector,” Escudero said.