DA, hinihiling na doblehin ang kanilang budget para sa 2025 | Saksi - video Dailymotion

GMA Integrated News

Saksi is GMA Network's late-night newscast hosted by Arnold Clavio and Pia Arcangel. It airs Mondays to Fridays at 11:00 PM (PHL Time) on GMA-7. For more videos from Saksi, visit http://www.gmanews.tv/saksi.  News updates on COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) and the COVID-19 vaccine: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/covid-19/  #Nakatutok24Oras  Breaking news and stories from the Philippines and abroad: GMA News and Public Affairs Portal: http://www.gmanews.tv Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gmanews  Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/gmanews Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gmanews  GMA Network Kapuso programs on GMA Pinoy TV: https://gmapinoytv.com/subscribe

Transcript

00:00It's not just an increase, but a double of the current budget requested by the Department of Agriculture for 2025.

00:07A large part of this is the plan to increase irrigation, especially in many places in the country,

00:12which is relying on rainwater.

00:14Witness, Mackie Polido.

00:19In the small investment of the government in the agriculture sector,

00:22the Department of Agriculture said that it will take up to 100 years to complete the roads and other infrastructure.

00:30That's why they are asking for a double budget for 2025, from Php 208 billion to Php 513 billion.

00:38We need more investment for agri.

00:40Because the sector is only receiving about 3%,

00:46and the contribution to GDP is about 9%,

00:52and the sector employs about 20% of the labor force.

00:58We need budgetary support.

01:00Out of Php 200 billion in the requested additional budget, the agency wants to increase irrigation.

01:0533% of the more than 1 million hectares of irrigable area is still relying on rainwater.

01:11In order to bring products to the market, proper roads are needed.

01:16But in the 131,000 kilometers of Farm to Market Road, only 64,000 are properly passed.

01:24Post-harvest facilities are also lacking, such as cold storage facilities,

01:28so that the product can be impacted instead of being thrown on the side of the road if there is too much rice.

01:33In terms of cold storage capacity, we're the lowest.

01:3737,000 cubic meters per 1,000 residents.

01:42Because of these shortcomings, for example, rice,

01:45more than 14% of the rice is not used.

01:48The same goes for bananas, while 50% of the rice is used for mangoes.

01:54Meanwhile, 31% of the rice is being thrown away.

01:57We can significantly reduce it.

02:00Of course, we will be reducing our imports and we can increase our level of sufficiency.

02:09According to Bantay Bigas,

02:11with the size of that fund, the farmers should really benefit from it.

02:14It needs to be monitored, especially since the agency has experienced corruption.

02:20How much is the Php 1 billion Fertilizer Fund Scam,

02:23even if the Php 100 billion was misused by the National Irrigation Administration?

02:30For the IBON Foundation, the agency's budget should really be increased.

02:34But the fund needs to be monitored, and whatever it was used for, it should be spent.

02:39The DA accepted that the fund needs to be monitored from corruption

02:43and they will cooperate with the private sector to fight this.

02:47For GMA Integrated News,

02:49Mackie Pulido is your witness.

DA, hinihiling na doblehin ang kanilang budget para sa 2025 | Saksi

Category

Transcript

Recommended