Department of Agriculture will not ask for higher allocation for 2019

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) will not ask for a higher allocation next year even if its 2019 budget is expected to decrease amid government’s shift to a cash-based budget system.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said he would have to make use of the P49.8 billion approved allocation by the Department of Budget and Management, nearly two percent lower than this year’s P50.6 billion budget.

The DA is set to face members of the House of Representatives for the budget hearing scheduled this Thursday.

“During the last Cabinet meeting, it was agreed that the departments would not make any move to ask for a bigger budget. We all made a commitment and I cannot violate that,” Piñol told reporters during a chance interview on Tuesday.

“There is never enough of anything, but we have to understand that the President is appealing to accept whatever budget is given to us,” he added.

Because of this, the DA would have to streamline some of its programs to be able to utilize the lower budget next year.

One of which is the review of its seed buffer stocking, which is allotted in times of calamities.

“I noticed that many of our buffer stock seeds are not being used. So we are doing a study as to which regions are affected the most,” Piñol said.

“Those affected will only be the ones that will have buffer stocks, the rest we would have to decrease or remove. Not every province should have because a lot are being wasted,” he added.

The DA earlier proposed a P124 billion allocation, bulk of which will still go to the rice sector. But the DBM only approved P49.8 billion, which would still pass through both chambers in Congress.