Duterte Administration allocates 120 billion for agri sector
Filipino Farmers are ensured of a better future as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary Benjamin Diokno declared a P120 billion budget allocation for the agriculture sector.
The budget chief guarantees that the Filipino farmers will be the current administration’s priority, in a forum with the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) on February 1.
According to Diokno, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will receive a P46 billion budget allocation for agricultural research, development and support. This also includes the construction of farm to market roads and market expansions. While the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will receive a total of P9.8 billion for the distribution of 4,800 hectares of agricultural land for farmer beneficiaries.
With President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to guarantee food security in the Philippines, an allocation of at least P51 billion has been on safeguard for other government agriculture related agencies, such as the National Food Authority (NFA) and National Irrigation Authority (NIA) according to DAR.
In a speech delivered by DAR secretary Rafael Mariano, he told the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (ARBOs) that the agency will plan new policies to further secure and implement the rights and welfare of the Filipino farmers.
“Control over agricultural lands must always be at the hands of farmers,”
Sec. Mariano said.
