On February 8, 2019, top officials from the Department of Agriculture (DA) Central and regional offices sat together for the CY 2018 Fourth Quarter Financial Management Assessment meeting held at the Convention Hall of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) in Quezon City.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol laid down the DA programs and projects that have been completed and discussed plans that are still on the pipeline.

“Let us better our best. A lot of people do not realize the efforts that we pour for rural development, as effects won’t be felt right away. Some may even take our lifetime before its impacts are seen,” Piñol said.

As such the agri chief reiterated the ten DA pillars, that supported and continue to support Philippine agriculture and fisheries development.

1. Establishment of roadmaps for major agricultural commodities, national color-coded agriculture, farm to market roads, and fisheries guide map.
2. The conduct of the National Food Quantification Study in partnership with the United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The outcome of the research will be used to determine what priority crops need to be planted in specific locations since it will reflect the diet and food preferences of Filipinos.
3. Improved budget utilization. For 2018, the Department achieved 94% budget utilization and 86% cash disbursement based on the Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
4. Consolidate all credit funds. Under credit windows managed by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), the Department provided easy to access loan programs for farmers and fisherfolk at low-interest rates with no collateral.
5. Establishment and strengthening of strategic and effective post-harvest and storage facilities that lessened losses,  improved and stabilized market prices of food commodities.
6. Support aggressive marketing campaign of various agri-fishery commodities including high-value crops through TienDA and the online portal e-tienDAko.com
7. Reinforcement of a nationwide livestock, dairy, and poultry programs, which raised the cattle population and improved the dairy production of the country.
8. Intensify campaign for maritime laws. Following the strict enforcement of the regulations such as the closed fishing season and prohibition of of illegal fishing methods for the past year, a more sustainable fishery sector is slowly being realized.
9. Re-introduction of basic agriculture in the primary and elementary schools to raise a new and young breed of aspiring farmers and fisherfolks.
10. Mechanization, technology updating, and digitization of agriculture by introducing modern methods of agriculture making agriculture easy, convenient, and enticing both the young and seasoned farmers and fisherfolks.

“Agriculture is not only producing food for today,” Piñol said.

“More importantly, we have to be mindful of our future generation and implement sustainable agriculture that will not only feed us for today but in the coming years,” he added.### (Carlos Cezar Baldosa, DA-AFID / Photo by Alan Jay Jacalan)