P88-B hike for DA's 2025 budget sought

An increase of P88 billion in next year's budget of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is being lobbied in Congress after its initial funding request incurred a massive cut in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

DA Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel Jr. disclosed that their original budget request amounted to P513 billion, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) recommended a whopping P300 billion cut in the 2025 NEP.

The slash brought the DA's proposed expenditure to P200,195,367,000, according to Laurel.

Joining his colleagues in rallying for a higher budget for the department, Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villafuerte said Monday that the cutback in the allocation will make it impossible for the country to attain food security, which has been the priority of the Marcos government.

“For our country to eventually attain food security, if not sufficiency,  the annual budget for agriculture needs to go up in 2025 by at least one percentage point to 4 percent of our GDP (gross domestic product), or equivalent to P88 billion,” Villafuerte said.

The former governor pointed out that inadequate funding for the agriculture sector has led to supply and pricing problems on rice and other agricultural produce, which, in turn, have caused upward pressures on headline inflation that mostly impacted the vulnerable sectors.