THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking a supplemental budget of P1 billion from Malacanang to ensure the implementation of its programs aimed to ensure food supply and price stability amid enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
In a letter addressed to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar sought the amount to support the the DA’s 2-month program to ensure food supply amid the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
“While the DA support systems are already in place to ensure food supply availability, we need additional funds to sustain their implementation, especially in areas where the enhanced community quarantine is strictly enforced,” Dar said in his letter dated March 21.
“The DA has a quick response fund as all other agencies, but we want to proactively deal with the situation by ensuring the continuous production, processing, packaging and delivery of basic food commodities to major consumption centers, particularly Metro Manila,” Dar added.
Dar said the the P1-billion supplemental funding seeks to upscale the DA’s “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” project by “establishing more outlets in partnership with local chief executives in Metro Manila” to ensure availability of food supplies in the area.
“We will also pursue partnerships with government and private agencies interested to set up Kadiwa stores to provide the basic food needs of their respectice employees,” he said.
Under its proposal, DA said it will spend P325 million or about one-third of the requested fund to expand its Kadiwa project and for market logistics support to the food value chain system, which includes fuel subsidies.
The DA will allocate P250 million for the “extensive” promotion of urban agriculture in Metro Manila and nearby cities while P200 million would be used for provision of seeds and inputs.
The DA added that it will spend P75 million for its intensified monitoring and enforcement of price freeze and suggested remail price in the market.
The remaining P150 million, according to DA, would be used “to support frontline agriculture workers, covering medical assistance, biosecurity measures and financial assistance, and information and communications.”
Dar added, “We commit to make efficient use of the supplemental budget during this challenging time, as this grim episode is indeed a huge challege for all of us.”
In a related development, the DA said it has already issued about 5,000 food passes to truckers, traders and logistics firms as part of measures to ensure smooth trade of food and goods during the month-long ECQ.
“The best way to sustain stable prices of basic farm and fishery commodities is to have a continuous and unhampered movement of such goods from origin to the markets much more in Metro Manila and other metropolis,” Dar said.