Agriculture Department to insist on P58-B 2011 budget

The Agriculture Department is pushing for a P58-billion budget for 2011, even after the Budget Department made it clear that government does not have enough money. "The DBM [Department of Budget and Management] said they can only give half of what we are asking. I think it's more of [DBM] trying to manage the deficit. But we will certainly demand for what we think is best for the department," said Agriculture Undersecretary Joel Rudinas. Rudinas said the bulk of the proposed budget is for the rice-sufficiency program. The proposed rice budget would include programs for irrigation – declogging and setting up of new tributaries for areas without existing irrigation facilities. "We will be presenting the budget proposal during the next Cabinet meeting. We hope to get the approval of the Cabinet so we will have a better chance of convincing the DBM to give us what we need," Agriculture Secretary Proseso Alcala said. "Rice sufficiency is a priority project of the government. If we are to realize the target of attaining self-sufficiency [in rice], we should be given the means to do it," he added. The government is looking forward for the rice production to hit sufficiency status by 2013, with a farm output target of 21.61 million metric tons. Agriculture Department estimated that the first semester output might have dropped by 10.5 percent to 6.6 million MT from 7.38 million MT in the same period last year. Farm output in the first quarter palay was 3.49 million MT, slipping 11.4 percent from 3.94 million MT a year earlier. —JE/VS, GMANerws.TV