REPUBLIC Act 8435 , otherwise known as the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act(AFMA) , aims to strengthen the agriculture and fishery sectors through modernization, greater participation of small-holders (or small stakeholders), food security and food self-sufficiency, private sector participation and people empowerment.
Agri Pinoy (Makapagpabagong Programa Tungo sa Masagana at Maunlad na Agrikultura at Pangisdaan) will be the banner program for agricultural development, a transitional blueprint for putting AFMA to work. As such, it will focus on achieving food security and poverty alleviation, with the LGUs (local government units) and other stakeholders developing their own plans and programs suitable to their respective localities. Such plans and programs should be able to ensure food security by increasing productivity in irrigated areas, while addressing poverty alleviation by providing support to marginal areas to empower those who have the least.
The program envisions a modernized and productive agriculture and fishery sector, being able to provide food at prices affordable to all, especially the marginalized sectors, which will eventually be empowered as the benefit from responsive support services provided them.
To attain security and competitive self-sufficiency in rice, the agriculture sector should modernize productivity in corn and other feed crops, promote diversification in resource-poor; lowland and upland ecosystems without access to irrigation, promote livestock enterprise development, and foster the recovery and eventual growth of the fisheries sector through stratified targeting; this way, interventions that will be introduced will be more responsive to farmer’ needs.
Agriculture contributes about 22 percent to the country’s gross national product, despite the low priority it was given in the past in terms of budgetary resources. It provides income and livelihood to million of farmers and fisherfolk and their dependents. It enables traders, processors, retailers, and other groups to, directly or indirectly, make a living. Given these potentials, it is only logical that the agriculture sector be fully harnessed towards enhancing agricultural productivity and improving the incomes and welfare of farmers and fisherfolk. To these ends, the following objectives could be attained: food security; poverty alleviation; sustainability of natural resources base; social equity; and global competitiveness. These objectives can be attained if the macroeconomic policy environment is favorable for agriculture to move forward. More so, when public investments are adequate for the delivery of the vital support services for agriculture to prosper, this creates a lasting, positive impact on the lives of farmers and fishermen, which in turn will help accelerate the overall growth and development of the economy.
BANNER PROGRAMS:
