The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it has submitted to Malacañang a draft executive order (EO) which seeks to institutionalize its province-led program to accelerate the growth of the country’s farm sector.
The DA said the draft EO calls for institutionalizing its province-led Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Systems (PAFES).
“We are serious in pursuing PAFES, although we are just piloting a few provinces this year. We have sent to Malacañang a draft executive order, institutionalizing PAFES starting next year to cover all provinces nationwide,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said in a statement.
PAFES is one of the DA’s key programs that seek to strengthen the collaboration among stakeholders—the department, local government units (LGUs), academe and the private sector—to bring extension services to the grassroots level amid the challenges of devolution.
Under PAFES, the provinces serves as an extension hub that synchronizes agricultural plans and programs of various stakeholders involved, according to the DA.
The department will “co-plan, co-invest, co-implement, and co-monitor priority projects in the provinces as they embark on commodity specializations to maximize comparative advantage” under PAFES.
PAFES is also seen as one of the key measures to boost agriculture growth in the provinces in light of the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling next year, which will hike the funding of LGUs.
“Through PAFES, and the implementation of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling next year, we would like to see more LGUs investing in agri-fishery projects that would produce traditional as well as emerging products that enjoy a comparative advantage,” Dar said.
The DA has identified Bohol as a model for the PAFES program following a successful meeting between its governor and former agri chief, Arthur C. Yap, and Dar.
During their recent meeting, Yap presented the island-province’s programs for its agriculture and fishery sector, which the DA noted was in line with its OneDA reform agenda framework.
“Governor Yap’s presentation and package of proposed projects remain one of the best we have seen to date, as he matched Bohol’s priority agri-fishery programs and plans with the OneDA agenda,” Dar said.
Citing Yap, the DA said Bohol is funding P588.8-million worth of agriculture and fishery projects this year, including a rice program that seeks to increase average palay yield in the province to 8 metric tons (MT) for hybrid variety and 6 MT for inbred seeds.
“Other initiatives cover corn, root crops [ube kinampay], coconut, bangus, tilapia, seaweeds, dairy, native chicken, swine, and farm-to-market roads [FMRs].”
The DA said Yap has requested an additional funding support from the department of up to P976 million for its programs and P1.4 billion for farm-to-market road projects. The DA added that Dar has accepted Yap’s proposals and promised that the funding request would be “favorably acted upon.”
The DA said several provinces, such as Isabela, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, Quirino, Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Cebu, and Marinduque, are now taking the initiative to invest much of their budget in agriculture.