Several national government agencies have food requirements amounting to P41 billion this year, which should be sourced from local farmers and fishers, according to Sen. Francis N. Pangilinan.
In an online consultation with farmers and provincial municipal agriculturists in Cavite, Laguna and Batangas, Friday, Pangilinan said this is P41 billion worth of untapped opportunities for farmers and fishermen.
He noted that the Department of Education (DepEd) has a feeding program while the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) distributes relief packages.
Regional hospitals under the Department of Health and provincial jails under the Department of the Interior and Local Government also require food.
“All these agencies buy agricultural products for their feeding programs. For 2021, the budget for these programs is P41 billion. Farmers and fishermen accredited by the Department of Agriculture [DA] could sell products to these agencies [under the Sagip Saka Act],” Pangilinan said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“The transaction does not have to go through the bidding process. The contract is negotiated and farmers and fishers do not have to issue receipts. All that’s needed is a purchase order.”
Under Section 22 of the General Appropriations Act of 2021, as amended by Pangilinan, the government as procuring entity of food shall directly purchase available agricultural and fisheries products from local farmers, fishers, or their associations or cooperatives. This provision is pursuant to the Sagip Saka Act (Republic Act 11321) and is consistent with Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Republic Act 11494).
Section 22 directs DA, DSWD, DepEd, DOH, DILG, local government units (LGUs), and other relevant government agencies to implement this provision as a policy in their feeding programs, relief operations, rice subsidy, and other programs.
Pangilinan is the principal author and sponsor of the Sagip Saka Act.
Joel Batitis, city agriculturist of Santa Rosa in Laguna, said the local government implemented Sagip Saka during the pandemic. This benefited not only food producers and food consumers but also the LGU of Santa Rosa. He said the Office of Mayor Arlene Arcillas bought 4 tons of assorted vegetables from farmers in nearby Nagcarlan. In 19 deliveries, the various produce were distributed as food packs for Santa Rosa residents.
The Santa Rosa agriculturist said Nagcarlan farmers were able to deliver almost 79 tons of assorted vegetables amounting to P3.12 million as they also partnered with other farmers’ cooperatives from neighboring provinces. Among their deliveries were 1 ton of sweet potatoes from Kalayaan, Laguna; 200 trays of salted eggs from Victoria, Laguna; 4 tons of saging na saba from a cooperative in Alfonso, Cavite; and 7 tons of ready-to-cook vegetable packs from All Seasons Nature Farms in Batangas.
He said these were used to feed frontliners and hospital workers, as well as re-packers and volunteers for the whole operation.
As of November 2020, Pangilinan noted that a total of 443 LGUs have directly purchased agricultural and fishery products from accredited farmers and fishers’ cooperatives benefiting 532 individual farmers and 265 farmers cooperatives and associations.
The estimated total value of products is P2.737 billion. These include rice/palay, corn, other high-value crops, livestock and poultry, fishery products, and agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers.
Read full article on BusinessMirror