The Department of Agriculture (DA) is heading into 2027 with a leaner budget but a familiar list of challenges, seeking P198.45 billion from Congress to keep food production, farm incomes, and food security on track.
The proposed allocation is P17.25 billion, or 8 percent, lower than the P215.69 billion approved for 2026. The reduction is largely due to the normalization of the farm-to-market road budget, which returns to P16 billion after being doubled to P33 billion last year.
Higher allocations for programs such as coffee development, projects of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and P20 billion for animal industry development and competitiveness partly offset reductions in other programs, including support for attached agencies and digitalization.
The P10-billion allocation for the Rice-for-All program, which primarily supports the P20-per-kilogram rice program, remains unchanged.
The proposed allocation is also substantially below the P260 billion the DA initially submitted to the Department of Budget and Management for 2027.
Including the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the broader agriculture and agrarian reform budget falls to P261.74 billion from P297.10 billion.
NIA accounts for much of the decline, with its proposed budget dropping to P46.36 billion from P63.25 billion, while DAR’s allocation slips to P16.94 billion from P18.16 billion.
Presenting the budget to the House of Representatives, Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the smaller allocation must still address a sector facing high production costs, changing weather patterns, climate risks, and market uncertainty.
“This is not simply an investment in agriculture. It is an investment in food security,” Tiu Laurel said.
The DA plans to prioritize programs that raise farm and fishery productivity, improve infrastructure, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen logistics and market access, and expand the use of technology.
It also aims to strengthen agriculture and fisheries value chains so farmers and fisherfolk can capture a larger share of the value they create, while making the sector more resilient to climate and market disruptions.
The real test of the budget, said Tiu Laurel, is not its size but what it delivers.
The department wants its investments to translate into higher production and incomes, fewer losses, faster movement of food to markets, and a more stable supply of safe and affordable food.
With fewer pesos to deploy, implementation and accountability will therefore matter even more. Tiu Laurel stressed that every peso entrusted to the DA is public money that must be used “wasto, maingat, mahusay, at may buong pananagutan.”
The challenge is to keep food affordable for consumers while making agriculture and fisheries profitable enough for producers to stay in the business.
A smaller budget means the DA must make sure that every peso must work harder. ### (By DA-OSEC Comms)
