LEGISLATORS said on Monday they are prepared to raise the agriculture budget for 2025 by as much as P88 billion, saying the government should not have reduced funding for the Department of Agriculture (DA) by 6% if it wanted to achieve food security.
The minimum budget increase Congress should consider is P88 billion, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte, Jr. said at a budget hearing of the House appropriations committee.
“Increase the budget for irrigation by P25 billion to fund solar and pipe irrigation infrastructure,” he said. “Add another P8 billion for storage facilities, particularly cold storage.”
He proposed that post-harvest facilities also receive an additional P10 billion to mitigate losses, with another P10 billion going to the Rice Development Program.
Fishports and food terminals should also receive a P4 billion boost each to improve food distribution and processing, he added.
He gave no further details on his proposed spending items.
Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee said that the government’s decisions are not consistent with the objective of lowering food prices.
“It’s as if we’re just kidding ourselves,” he said. “We want to increase production and lower food prices, but the DA’s budget was slashed; the government has cut the budget for almost everything important,” Mr. Lee said.
“I strongly urge my fellow congressmen to increase the budget of the Department of Agriculture to address the challenges of the agriculture sector in support of farmers and fisherfolk and to achieve food security,” Party-list Rep. Jose J. Teves, Jr. said at the DA budget briefing.
While proposed budget for the DA itself will reflect a 12.9% increase to P129 billion in 2025, the government has cut funding to agriculture-affiliated agencies and corporations by 28% to P71 billion in 2025, according to the department’s budget briefer.
Overall, agriculture’s proposed 2025 funding, excluding the Department of Agrarian Reform budget, is P200.2 billion, which would be 6% lower than the approved funding for 2024.
“I don’t like the budget we’ve been allocated; of course, I want more,” Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. told legislators.
“What we asked for is P500 billion, and right now it’s only at P200 billion. If we can get P300 billion… I think that would be a big help,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the hearing.
“It’s good that we (are considering to) give additional funding to the Department of Agriculture, but we need to review the performance of all these attached agencies so that we would know how they are performing right now before we add these billions of pesos,” Baguio Rep. Mark O. Go said, expressing concern at Mr. Villafuerte’s proposal. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
