The Department of Agriculture (DA) successfully hosted the Development Partners Forum for the Agriculture and Fisheries Sectors on May 18, 2017 held at the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Libis, Quezon City.
The forum was attended by more than 100 participants consisting of foreign ambassadors, bilateral and multilateral organizations, officials and representatives from different government agencies, and DA officials
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol led the partnership forum. Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, also attended the said forum.
“Your presence, strongly show the strong commitment towards sustainable agriculture,” Piñol said.
One of the highlights of the event is the discussion of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022, which was anchored on the long-term development plan of President Duterte administration tagged as Ämbisyon 2040. It was presented by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon. The PDP, which will be officially launched on June 2017, focuses on building a stable, convenient and peaceful community in the country.
“For agriculture, we wanted to have an inclusive, high trust, and globally competitive community,” Edillon said.
“We wanted to increase its economic opportunity thru increasing the productivity, and at the same time we wanted to increase the access to this kind of opportunity,” Edillon added.
During the forum, Usec Edillion also announced the 4.9% growth in agriculture for the 1st quarter of the year.
Sec. Piñol presented the 10 priority agenda of DA. He also amplified the recovery on the recent Philippine agriculture performance, in which it gets 5.28 percent rate.
Some of the key points during the secretary’s discussion were:
- The creation and launching of the 5-year roadmap for livestock and dairy
- The implementation of the 5-year National Backyard Poultry Development Program
- Establishment of Post-harvest facilities
- Improvement of the mechanization
- Plan to rehabilitate Manila Bay
Piñol reiterated the approval of having quick access credit financing for the farmers and fisher folk.
He also announced possible partnership with Israel to conduct training programs to young Filipino, which can also involve post-graduate agriculture student.
He also asked the support of the senate committee and congress towards the discussion of free irrigation, coco levy fund, and national land use policy.
Assistant Secretary Maria Edita Tan of the Department of Finance gave a message of support after the speech of the Secretary. She said, “the DOF stands ready to support the financing requirements by mobilizing the needed resources particularly where there are determined need for foreign financing, expertise and/or technology and by building on the comparative advantage of development partners”.
Meanwhile, Sen. Villar supported the programs of DA particularly on easy access finance credit and the establishment of farm schools, which seeks to encourage young generation to get involve in agriculture.
“We are partners for change. I will continue to be your partner in legislative as we have the same goals,” Villar said.
“I am targeting 1,600 identified farm school across the country. They should look farming as a profitable job,” she added.
Villar acknowledged the challenges of farmers and fisher folk particularly on their lack to social credit, financial literacy and mechanization. She also vowed to help the agriculture department in filing for significant bills in the senate.
“I will continue to pursue legislative reforms for agriculture,” Villar said.
Under her leadership, she has contributed in the passage of Sugar Industry Development Act; an Act to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated fishing; Extending the implementation of the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) until 2022; Philippine Halal and Export Development Act, and an Act which makes Large-Scale Smuggling considered as non-bailable and economic sabotage.
The Senator announced that she will support the passage of the creation of marine hatchery in the country, bill seeking permanent free irrigation, bill to develop the livestock, poultry and dairy program, urban agriculture which will force local officials to allot budget for agriculture, and the bill to let Bureau of Soils and Water Management encourage composting in the entire country which will help to address soil degradation.
Piñol also announced the chairmanship of the Department of Agriculture in this year Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conference slated on June 28 to July 9, 2017, which will be held in Rome. ### (Kristel Merle, DA-AFID)
Reference:
Project Packaging and Resource Mobilization Division
Project Development Service
Department of Agriculture
Tel/Fax: (+63) 2 9201407
Trunkline: (+63) 2 928 8761-65 loc. 2226/2227
Photo caption: Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol, together with (from L-R) Israel Ambassador Ephraim Ben Matityau, Senator Cynthia A. Villar, Hungarian Ambassador Dr. József Bencze, Argentinian Ambassador Robert Sebastian Bosch Estevez, and Vietnamese Ambassador Lyquoc Tuan, poses during the Development Partners Forum for the Agriculture and Fisheries Sector on May 18, 2017 held at Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Libis, Quezon City. The partners’ forum aims to discuss the current thrusts and priorities of DA and to explore possible partnership with the participating countries. ### (Photo by Alarico Nuestro, DA-AFID)
