THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will review its spending priorities for 2019 after the Department of Budget and Management approved a P49.8-billion budget for the DA, significantly lower than the P60 billion approved for this year.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol told reporters on Tuesday: “We will have to streamline some programs” like a national reserve for seed “because I noticed that the seed stocks are not used.”
Mr. Piñol said that he has asked Assistant Secretary Andrew B. Villacorta and the DA’s operations team to compile data on which regions were given the most seed.
In 2019, he said the priority will be regions with a track record of using up their allocation “because a lot of the seed is being wasted.”
After recent storms, the department last week announced that it will need to tap its seed reserves, for distribution by the DA’s regional field offices.
The DA set aside 32,000 bags of rice seed to Pangasinan, which declared a state of calamity last week following heavy downpours caused by Tropical Storm Inday and Tropical Depression Josie.
Mr. Piñol said he will not be appealing the budget reduction.
“At the last cabinet meeting, it was agreed that the departments will not make any moves to ask for a bigger budget because we will try to make do with a smaller budget,” he added.
The DA had requested a P123.7-billion budget for 2019, which was to be spent on rice programs and easy-access credit for farmers. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato
