The Department of Agriculture is set to reveal in the next ten days its strategies for modernizing agriculture, boosting farming production, improving the country's agricultural economy, and bolstering farmers' and fishermen's livelihoods.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. urged the DA employees to focus on the challenge of producing enough food for Filipinos as the country is expected to experience a prolonged severe drought due to a "strong" El Niño phenomenon from February to May 2024.

"2024 is a new year and it will be a very challenging year. As I told you last time, all eyes are trained on us, more on me, probably because I'm the new agriculture secretary," said Laurel on Tuesday during the agency's weekly flag ceremony.

"The entire country expects that we could feed them and that we will try to bring commodity prices down," he continued.

The official also urged the employees to stay focused on the goal of modernizing the country's agriculture sector to be able to achieve food security and reduce agricultural imports.

"We can do this. But I need your help. I need your full cooperation for the DA to achieve its goals," Laurel said, also adding the need for adapting to new technologies, farm mechanization, and up-to-date market statistics.

"Very soon, we will have that program—possibly in the next 10 days—that we will cascade to everyone."

On top of these, Laurel said that the agricultural department should work urgently, stressing the remaining time left in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s term.

"A lot of things need to be done. We need to do this with a sense of urgency because there are only four years left in the administration of President Marcos. And we also have to change the perception of Filipinos that we can produce more food for our country," he said.

The agency's budget for this year exceeds P167.5 billion, which is said to be maximized to increase agricultural production through technology modernization and improved logistics and to lower product costs.