Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has emphasized the need for the government to put in place an agriculture information system (AIS) to help farmers increase their productivity and assure adequate food supply in the market even with severe weather disturbances. 

Gatchalian has filed Senate Bill No. 1374, which seeks the creation of an AIS to enable farmers to find their markets and sell their output where there is demand.

The senator said an AIS is a must given the country’s vulnerability to extreme weather such as typhoons, pointing to the recent devastation caused by Typhoons Egay and Falcon, which affected Metro Manila and nearby provinces in Central Luzon. 

The typhoon has resulted in millions of pesos worth of agricultural damage and losses. 

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) estimated the agricultural damages to be almost P3-billion, affecting about 117,000 farmers and fisherfolk throughout the nation and leaving over 140 thousand hectares of crop area damaged.

The senator said adopting an AIS would also prevent any artificial shortages which can affect prices.

“We want to support our kababayans not only in the short and medium term but also in the long run,” Gatchalian said.

“We expect that through the creation of the AIS, the livelihood of our farmers will be more organized and the problem of hunger in the country will be resolved,” he said.

Once in place, the AIS is expected to ensure not only the profitability of farmers but also sufficiency of food supply in retail centers.

The bill also seeks to guarantee that agricultural supplies are delivered in areas where there is demand to prevent artificial shortages that causes an uptick in the prices of agricultural products.