The Department of Agriculture (DA) will get way lower than its desired budget for next year but Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said he is still hoping to get at least P120 billion in 2018, more than triple of the agency’s approved budget of P36.4 billion under Tier 1 and almost half the size of the P220 billion he earlier requested. Piñol said in an interview yesterday that the approved budget of DA under Tier 1 is only P36.4 billion, even lower than the actual budget of P46 billion that the agency has secured for this year and the P54 billion it had in 2016. From 2011 to 2015 alone, the combined budget allotted to the DA stood at P339 billion, which the agency supposedly used to rationalize its programs, projects and services especially for smallholder farmers and fishers.

Miraflor, M. B. (2017, July 13). DA's current budget at P36 billion; Piñol hopeful to get at least P120 B. Manila Bulletin, p. B-6.