NAF Council Budget Committee tackles status of 2014 DA Plan and Budget

In the 6th consultative meeting of the National Agriculture and Fisheries (NAF Council) Budget Committee held at the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) Apacible Conference Room in Quezon City on November 11, committee members and partners tackled the status of the implementation of the DA’s 2014 Plan and Budget.

Around 40 officials were in attendance including representatives from concerned Department of Agriculture (DA) bureaus, attached agencies and corporations, and banner programs.

Elsie Balagtas of the DA Budget Division and Carlos Magnaye, Officer-in-Charge of the DA Planning Service, respectively presented the financial and physical accomplishments of the Department for the past three quarters of the year. 

The DA’s Budget Accountability Report on its operations covered the seven Major Final Outputs, namely, Agriculture and Fishery Policy Services, Technical and Support Services, Irrigation Network Services, Farm-to-Market Road Network Services, Agricultural and Fishery Equipment and Facilities Support Services, Plant and Animal Regulatory Services, and Credit Support Services, where the DA has achieved 57% of its three-quarter targets.

Committee members representing private sector entities and civil society organizations voiced some recommendations to improve the planning and monitoring processes of the DA budget which include the presentation of budget proposals and status of implementation of the different programs to the National Sectoral Committees (NSCs), for the Budget Committee to discuss every quarter the status of implementation of the entire DA plan and budget, and conduct initial consultations with private sectors at the local levels to find out the pressing issues that need to be considered in the budgeting process.

In the two resolutions passed during the meeting, the committee underscored the participation of the private sector in the early stages of the budget planning for 2016 and beyond and for the engagement of the Department of Budget and Management in the DA budget consultations.

Stressing that the results of monitoring efforts can be a sound basis for improving the DA’s budget, NSC Chairpersons, who are also members of the committee, reiterated their willingness to serve as third party monitoring body for the DA’s programs and projects.

PCAF officials led by Exec. Dir. Ariel Cayanan disclosed that the PCAF, which serves as the secretariat for the NAF Council, its Budget Committee, NSCs and AFCs, has allotted an additional budget of around P300,000 for each region every quarter for the NSCs to monitor and track agri-fishery programs and projects in 2015, focusing on big-ticket items.

In line with this, the committee agreed to meet again to discuss monitoring guidelines, budgetary concerns and other matters related to the NSCs’ monitoring of the DA’s 2015 budget implementation.