Manila, July 8 -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is proposing a PHP284.4-billion budget for 2021, a nearly 256-percent increase from its current appropriations, to "sustain, reboot and grow" the country's agriculture sector.
During the virtual hearing of the House committee on agriculture and food, Agriculture Secretary William Dar stressed the need to allocate more resources to agriculture to unlock its full potentials in the Philippine economic recovery and national development efforts.
He said the agricultural sector contributes around 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) but the share it gets from the national budget for the past 10 years is a measly 3 to 5 percent of the total.
"The budget is intended to sust...