Two major farmers’ groups pushed for the return of some 25,000 agricultural extension workers from local governments to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) and the MAGSASAKA Party-List (MPL) organization said that the devolution of farm technicians under the Local Government Code of 1991 has brought about a “structural disconnect” in the implementation of agricultural programs between the DA and local government units (LGUs).
According to FFF Board Chairman Leonardo Q. Montemayor and MPL President Argel Joseph Cabatbat, “The removal of DA’s direct line supervision over the field extension force has caused the delayed delivery of seeds, fertilizer, technical and other support services to the country’s ten million farmers. It has badly hampered the effective execution and monitoring of national programs for the rural sector. All this has led to food production shortfalls and higher prices.”
The groups alleged that in some provinces, cities and municipalities where governors or mayors give low priority to agriculture, farm programs are neglected. The groups further said that many technicians are assigned as drivers, security guards and similar duties instead of visiting farmers in their fields and preventing the spread of plant and animal diseases like the African Swine Fever (ASF). “Even the registration and selection of recipients of cash, farm inputs and equipment subsidies from the national government have been politicized,” they added.
Montemayor and Cabatbat also pointed out that devolution has curtailed the pay, career advancement and/or other incentives being enjoyed by rural extensionists when they were DA employees.
“Once renationalized, farm technicians will receive substantially bigger compensation and benefits from a ladderized promotion system,” the two leaders said.
