The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects to receive a budget of only P72 billion for 2022. This is only slightly higher than the actual budget it was supposed to receive in 2021 and is way lower compared with the P250 billion allocation the agency proposed for next year. Department of Agriculture...
Agriculture Secretary William Dar assured that efforts to help the livestock sector, which heavily dragged the performance of the country’s agriculture sector during the first half of the year, recover from the African Swine Fever (ASF) are in full force. Hog raiser Val Ruiz is in disbelief that...
Agriculture Secretary William Dar assured that the "poorest of the poor" among farmers and fishermen will receive financial support from the national government during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period. In a briefing on Wednesday, Dar said farmers and fishermen living in areas that...
Agriculture Secretary William Dar has downgraded his year-end growth target for the Philippines’ farm sector, from 2.5 percent to 2 percent, amid the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the continuous spread of African Swine Fever (ASF). “We always would like to be optimistic but our...
The Philippine government will spin off the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center (BAPTC), the country’s biggest vegetable trading facility, after six years in operation, Agriculture Secretary William Dar announced. According to Dar, this move will free up the state-funded BAPTC) in La Trinidad,...
Now that the Philippines is under a state of calamity due to African Swine Fever (ASF), the Department of Agriculture (DA) is hoping to get more budget of at least P6 billion to boost efforts to fight the dreaded animal virus that already resulted in billions of losses to the local hog industry....
The United States (US) is funding two separate agriculture projects in the Philippines with combined investment of P1.6 billion. In a letter to Philippine Agriculture Secretary William Dar, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack said his agency is committed to making...
It may have taken some time since the alleged kickback scheme in pork importation was exposed, but Agriculture Secretary William Dar is more certain now that the Department of Agriculture (DA) has nothing to do with this so-called tongpats scandal. During a recent senate hearing, Dar denied any...
Farmers want representation in the Coco Levy’s Trust Fund Management Committee, which is the legally mandated committee tasked to decide on the disposition of the P100-billion worth of coco levy fund and assets. In a statement, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) called on the Duterte...
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has been strongly urged to withdraw its proposal to reduce the tariff on pork imports as well as increase the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) allocation while the investigation on alleged “tongpats” is ongoing. Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) Chairman...
The Philippines temporarily banned the importation of poultry products coming from the Russian Federation, which was recently hit by the dreaded bird flu or H5N8 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). This was contained in Department of Agriculture’s (DA) memorandum order (MO) no. 17, which...
It will soon be easier for local hog raisers who are insured at the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) to claim insurance or indemnification after being hit by the dreaded African Swine Fever (ASF). Photo by MA Albert Estoya. This, after the PCIC Board of Directors approved the proposal...