Angara files agroforestry bill

Sen. Edgardo Angara has filed Senate Bill 2201 which seeks to enhance the practice of agroforestry in the country by creating the Board of Agroforestry under the Professional Regulation Commission.

In pushing for the passage of the bill, Angara stressed the "twin demands" of the environment and the people in the need to use agroforestry as a key to resource rehabilitation, sustainable development and preservation of our natural resources.

As a land-use management system, agroforestry would provide a new market opportunity for new business investments, sustainable agriculture, land stewardship, habitat for wildlife, improved water quality and diversified farm income.

Angara said he is making his hometown of Aurora a pilot area for the government’s agroforestry program in a bid to make the province self-sufficient in food and the eventual food basket of Central Luzon.

The Philippines is one of the first countries to practice agroforestry. It is the main production/technology tool in the implementation of the community-based forestry management programs exemplified in Executive Order No. 263 series of 1995, and is among the fields of agriculture and fisheries that are embodied in the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act of 1997.

The bill is envisioned to enhance the role of agroforestry knowledge and principles, and lastly develop key initiatives to facilitate the genuine and sustainable agricultural development through agroforestry. — Christina Mendez