TREBLED AGRI BUDGET URGED TO BOOST FOOD SECURITY

The Department of Agriculture (DA) reiterated that allotting a substantial budget for the agency will help the agriculture sector overcome challenges in securing the country’s food supply that are being aggravated by global crises.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar expressed hope the incoming government will increase the budget allocation for the essential sector to better respond to threats to food security.

“If next year’s budget is not doubled or tripled, and if we have this same level of budget that we have today, we will always have the same problem,” he said during the DA’s national management committee meeting held in Davao City.

Dar stressed that food security is a national security issue and that food sovereignty is essential for economic progress.

The next administration should “see to it that the agriculture sector must be given a substantial budget” to have good management of all the crisis, disasters and the things that have been impacted by the pandemic and the Ukraine war,” he added.

Under the 2022 national budget, the government set aside P85.5 billion for the agriculture department. Dar previously said the ideal budget would be P250 million— around three times greater than the current budgetary support —to grow further and unlock the potential of this sector.

In the same meeting, the DA chief expressed his worries over the brewing food crisis caused by the disrupted global food supply chain, the greatly reduced agricultural productivity of Ukraine and Russia, and the reduced agricultural productivity in the rest of the world.