AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. is calling for the amendment of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) charter in the bid to expand its function particularly in developing and managing marine and agro-industrial estates across the country.
In a statement, Laurel said developing and managing marine and agro-industrial estates across the country will help ensure ample food supply.
He said amending the PFDA is aligned with the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP) and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s goal of modernizing the agriculture sector, which is part of administration’s "Bagong Pilipinas" key strategies.
In his presentation before the World Bank in November 2022 on the PRDP, Laurel said marine and agro-industrial estates is seen to serve as one-stop shops that will house ports, cold-storage facilities, silos, and warehouses to store farm and marine products such as rice, sugar, vegetables, palm oil, and other basic commodities.
He said they are hoping that the World Bank will help the country realize such a vision which has been successfully implemented in South Korea and Japan.
In its PRDP report, the World Bank identified potential funding sources for Philippine agriculture like grant funds from the European Union and the Global Environment Facility to support marine-protected areas.
Laurel said the World Bank also noted the need for digital transformation in agriculture in the country as well as improving the sector’s logistics.
“Definitely, we need a logistics master plan. That is one thing I think is lacking in the DA,” he said.
Laurel said he will soon appoint an assistant secretary whose sole focus would be logistics to ensure public funds are well spent.
The newly-appointed secretary said he has been meeting with lawmakers over the past days to seek possible adjustments in the 2024 budget to “better align with the Marcos administration’s goal of increasing farm production to make the country food secure, as well as raise incomes of farmers and fishermen to lift them out of poverty.”
Based on government data, 10 million farmers and fishermen live below the poverty line.
“We need to scale up and get our priorities straight,” Laurel stressed.
“I have technically three-and-a-half years to accomplish these things. The DA, under my watch, will do its best to speed things up,” he added.