National government’s presence needed at local level for agriculture success
Learning from experience, it is essential for some functions, national government personnel from the Department of Agriculture (DA) must be physically present at the local level to effectively support our Local Government Units (LGUs). This was suggested by the Alyansa Agrikultura during the Jan. 26 Senate hearing on two bills sponsored by Sen. Francisco Pangilinan. They created the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries Agency and the Bureau of Agriculture Cooperatives.
The principle of social subsidiarity is a cornerstone of good governance. It means that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level where the needs of the people are best known. The concept of a strong state is equally important. This means that the government should provide a definitive, unified, focused direction with the appropriate support.
Credibility
Pangilinan has high credibility in proposing these two bills. A Publicus Asia Philippines 2025 end-of-year survey measured how favorably respondents viewed sitting senators and newly elected ones. The top three most favored were Sens. Bam Aquino, Francisco Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros. They advocated the most critical issues we face today: education, agriculture and good governance, respectively. This also reflects an awakening of a better-informed citizenry.
Pangilinan has both government and private sector experience. He was the Presidential Adviser on Food Security. After that, he put up his own small farm to experience agriculture from the small farmer’s viewpoint. He saw two main problems: the lack of agricultural extension and the absence of clustering and consolidation for economies of scale. In so doing, he humbly stated that he was building on the prior bills authored by Sen. Loren Legarda for extension and Sen. Hontiveros for cooperatives.
Extension
Because of the local government code, nationally directed agriculture extension services were devolved from the DA to the LGUs. The DA was allowed only regional offices, far from the action at the provincial and municipal levels. The majority of LGUs were not sufficiently prepared for this. In many cases, hiring was deficient, technology transfer was lacking and several extension workers were given non-extension work. The impact of this extension breakdown is devastating. An indicator is that while Vietnam and Thailand were way behind us before, our agricultural exports in 2024 were only $8 billion, compared to Vietnam’s $62 billion and Thailand’s $52 billion.
To solve this problem, the bill proposes the creation of the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Agency (Pafea). But since it is the transformation of the DA’s Agriculture Institute, it may be limited to only regional offices. It will then continue not being close to the provinces and municipalities. The strong state concept must be applied here. Pafea personnel must be stationed and be physically present at the provincial level to properly support the LGU extension workers. This is consistent with Pangilinan’s objective of reaching the grassroots.
Cooperatives
Pangilinan cites studies from the Food and Agriculture Organization. They show that “farmers who are members of cooperatives have better access to credit, modern technology and markets. They have economies of scale, thus increasing their incomes and reducing their costs.”
There is, therefore, a proposal for a bureau of agriculture cooperatives. In addition, there will be local development hubs. These will “strengthen the market linkages between market forces and buyers, fostering agricultural development and economic growth at the local level.” The principle of subsidiarity suggests that in certain local areas, the appropriate form of clustering and consolidation may be different from a cooperative, such as a cooperative or association.
The risk here is similar to the one mentioned earlier. If the Bureau’s personnel are limited to the regional level, the important support LGUs need will again not be met. Thailand uses the strong state concept. Their naming of their Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives shows how much central guidance they give cooperatives at the local level. Again, guiding this important initiative from the regional level will simply not work.
These two bills must therefore add a provision to ensure national DA personnel are present at the local level to properly support the LGUs. The principle of subsidiarity and the concept of a strong state will then be implemented and our agriculture sector will finally properly develop.
