DA eyeing ‘more than double’ ’25 funding to boost farms, fisheries
THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is finalizing a proposal that will “substantially” increase its budget for 2025 to pursue its goal of modernizing the farm and fisheries sectors to produce more food, ensure food security, and increase incomes of farmers and fishermen.
In a statement on Thursday, DA said that in a consultative meeting with private agricultural groups, it presented a proposal that would “more than double” its expenditure plan for next year to P513.81 billion from the current P208.58 billion.
While the budget proposal is still a “work in progress,” Agriculture Secretary Franciso P. Tiu Laurel Jr. told participants at the consultative meeting that it “clearly shows the direction where we are headed.”
According to the DA, Tiu Laurel sought the private sector’s support for the budget that is seen to build more farm infrastructure such as irrigation and postharvest facilities.
The Agriculture chief also pointed to the “severe” lack of investments in agriculture for almost four decades now, which resulted in the “declining” contribution of the sector to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“As a result, millions of Filipinos dependent on the sector have remained poor,” the DA said in its statement.
DA said Tiu Laurel estimated that P93 billion is needed for postharvest facilities over the next few years to reduce rice and corn wastage; while around P1.2 trillion would be required to irrigate an additional 1.2 million hectares to boost rice production and reduce importation.
Under the preliminary expenditure numbers for 2025, the bulk of the budget increase will go to DA attached corporations including the National Irrigation Administration, National Food Authority, Philippine Coconut Authority, Philippine Fisheries Development Authority and the National Dairy Authority, the DA noted.
“The proposed combined budget for the eight DA attached corporations is P287.98 billion, more than triple their total budget of P94.30 billion for this year,” the DA said.
For the DA itself, the agency noted that the “envisioned” budget for next year is nearly double at P225.83 billion, compared to P114.28 billion this year, to allow various bureaus to cope with the need to modernize the fisheries and farm sectors as well as address safety and anti-smuggling efforts.
Furthermore, the Agriculture department said the rice subsector will continue to account for the lion’s share of the budget proposal, with an allocation of P294.21 billion, or 57 percent of the total outlay for next year.
The fisheries subsector, meanwhile, is expected to get P50.6 billion while locally-funded projects will be allotted P45.48 billion, said DA.
Other subsectors and their budgets are cross-cutting programs, P34.5 billion; high-value crops, P32 billion; livestock, P28.56 billion; foreign-assisted, P13.77 billion; corn, P11.3 billion; and credit program, P3.38 billion.