Joey Salceda
MANILA, Philippines — House tax chief Rep. Joey Salceda wants at least a 10-percent increase in the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) budget for 2022.
Salceda said he had a meeting with Agriculture Secretary William Dar on Friday on the potential of the agriculture sector to drive economic recovery as the country grapples with the impact of the pandemic.
“I think we can go at least 10 percent additional funding. We probably need more and I’ll try to deliver more,” Salceda said in a statement on Saturday night.
In the 2021 budget, the agriculture department had an P85.6-billion allocation but Salceda said this was still “much smaller than it should be.”
“The economic fleet only goes as fast as the slowest ship. If we move agriculture, we move everything,” he added.