The House Committee on Agriculture and Food has approved a measure extending the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (Acef) to 2022.
House Bill (HB) 6162, principally authored by Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food and Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Mark Llandro L. Mendoza of Batangas City, was approved in substitution of the original three similar bills and four House resolutions.
In Committee Report 892, the 31 authors of the bill said that the “extension of the Acef up to 2022 would certainly help attain its purpose of significantly raising farm-productivity levels by providing the necessary support services to the agriculture sector.”
As Acef’s life ends this year, authors of the bill urged the leadership of the 16th Congress to pass the measure before the year ends.
Pursuant to Republic Act 8178, the Acef is allocated by Congress, from the proceeds of the importation of minimum access volume to develop farm machines, create social infrastructure and implement projects aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of farmers.
The Acef currently has a balance of P2 billion, which lawmakers said could be used to help farmers compete with their counterparts in other countries.
HB 6162 expands the beneficiaries of Acef to include local government units, state universities and colleges, other government institutions, accredited non-governmental organizations, people’s organizations, cooperatives, farmer/fisherman organizations and other accredited similar organized groups involved in agricultural development and promotion.
The bill also earmarks 10 percent of Acef for a comprehensive scholarship program for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary-medicine education. It also provides for a strategic investment plan to be formulated by the Department of Agriculture (DA), in consultation with the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM), which shall periodically evaluate the plan and review the utilization of the Acef.
The bill also mandates the DA, in consultation with the COCAFM, to revise and promulgate such rules and guidelines necessary to implement and ensure the widest possible information dissemination of the provisions of the proposed amendatory statute.