Acting Administrator David Alba of the Sugar Regulatory Administration on Monday, August 29, welcomed the announcement that the national government’s subsidy for the SRA will be increased next year.
Deputy House Speaker Ralph Recto said, in a press statement Sunday, that the Department of Agriculture, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at its helm, will see its budget shoot up by 44 percent, from P71 billion this year to P102.15 billion next year. A budget subsidy of P1 billion has been earmarked for the SRA, up by 41 percent, from this year’s P712.2 million, Recto said.
“We welcome the budget increase for SRA for next year’s utilization as the industry is in dire need of programs to be implemented so we can increase productivity,” Alba said.
“With the national government’s thrust on food security, the budget increase can be used for research and development programs and support services for small farmers, especially for block farms,” he said.
Alba said they also welcome the P19.5 billion allocated for fertilizer support, especially since the prices of fertilizer have tripled in the last three years.
“We hope that sugar farmers and all other agriculture industries will benefit from this earmarked program,” he added.
“We are also hoping that the P2 billion allocation under the Sugar Industry Development Act will be given by next year as this has been cut down to a fourth for this year,” Alba said.
“For the sugar industry to be sustainable and attain self-sufficiency for the country, we need to double time in our efforts and any budget increase will help ensure we can meet this if we get the much-needed help for the industry,” Alba added.
Recto said the budget increase for agriculture should be supported because “to beat hunger, a country should not starve its farming sector of funds.”
Of this amount, PHP19.5 billion will fund fertilizer support which, according to Recto, “is a must at this time when fertilizer prices have gone through the roof.”
“When crops are denied of nutrients, the resulting low harvest deprives our people of nutrition,” Recto said.
The DA will also be ramping up infrastructure spending, allotting P13.1 billion for farm-to-market roads and P29.5 billion for irrigation, Recto said.
The planned increase in the DA budget comes on the heels of a global study tagging the Philippines as the most food insecure in East and Southeast Asia and 146th out of 171 countries, Recto said.
Recto said the agriculture budget should finance “a turnaround plan” that will boost harvest and farmers’ incomes and bring us to food security.” *