TACLOBAN CITY - The Department of Agriculture (DA) is looking into the possibility of revising the Agricultural Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) to make it more relevant to the present field realities.
This was learned in an interview with DA Regional Executive Director Leo Cañeda during the two-day AFMA consultation in the region held recently at the Leyte Park Hotel.
AFMA, which serves as the “bible” or the legal basis for all the policies and projects being implemented by the DA, was enacted into law in 1997 and has been implemented since 1998 up to now.
Supposedly, there should be an AFMA consultation in every five years as required, but it was only this year that the DA in the region had the chance to conduct such review and consultation of the said law.
Also, an incremental budgetary allocation of P1.9 billion for the whole DA is supposed to come along with the implementation of the AFMA, which did not happen, according to Cañeda.
“The incremental budgetary allocation never came. What is happening is we are using the DA’s regular fund to support the activities aligned with the AFMA implementation in Eastern Visayas,” Cañeda said.
However, Cañeda said their attention is now focused on the provisions in the AFMA which are not attuned and unrealistic to the current field realities since the law was enacted in 1997 yet.
“We are looking forward in the possible revisions in the law or in the implementation of it to make it more relevant to the present times. There are things that have to be changed in the AFMA implementation so it should contend with the present realities,” Cañeda pointed out.
He said they saw the changes that have to be made just from looking back at the 8-9 years of its implementation in the region.
For one, the DA regional chief stressed that AFMA should support or complement the implementation of the Local Government Code which is not included among the present provisions of the said law.
“The AFMA should realize that we are working on the framework of partnership between the DA and Local Government Units (LGUs),” Cañeda said.
Cañeda expects that after the consultation they had here, they would be able to think of ways and means by which they can further modify certain provisions in the AFMA especially now that its life has been extended already up to 2015.
