DA proposes P284-B budget for 2021 By Filane Mikee Cervantes
The Department of Agriculture (DA) is proposing a PHP284.4-billion budget for 2021, a nearly 256-percent increase from its current appropriations, to “sustain, reboot and grow” the country’s agriculture sector. During the virtual hearing of the House committee on agriculture and food, Agriculture Secretary William Dar stressed the need to allocate more resources to agriculture to unlock its full potentials in the Philippine economic recovery and national development efforts. He said the agricultural sector contributes around 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) but the share it gets from the national budget for the past 10 years is a measly 3 to 5 percent of the total.
PHP79.9 billion budget. Of next year’s budget, PHP61.7 billion will be under Tier 1 while the Tier 2 will cover the remaining PHP222.6 billion. The agency’s proposed budget for next year will include PHP55.9 billion for the rice sub-sector; PHP6.6 billion for the corn sub-sector; PHP13.7 billion for the high-value crop; PHP11.2 billion for livestock sector; PHP22.5 billion for fisheries sector; PHP960 million for organic agriculture and PHP3 billion for other support programs.
“The budget is intended to sustain, reboot, and grow the agriculture and Dar assured the public that the fisheries sector amid the challenges supply of agricultural commodities brought by the pandemic,” Dar said. in the country is adequate amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We seek your highest approval of our budget proposal for the coming “We, in the Department of year. What lies in your hands right now Agriculture, are working 24/7 to ensure is the food security and resiliency of the that food is available, affordable, and country, the future of the 109 million sufficient on the table of every Filipino Filipinos, and counting,” he added. household under the situation we are in. We see these difficult situations as DA’s 2021 budget proposal of golden opportunities to strengthen the PHP284.4 billion is PHP204.5 billion underpinnings of Philippine agriculture,” higher than the current year budget of he said. (PNA)
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| July 4-10, 2020
