THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it will seek a 10% increase in its 2026 budget to boost spending on sugar, coconut, and onion.
“We are asking for at least 10% more,” Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. told reporters.
The DA allocation was P237.4 billion this year, less than half of its initial request of P513 billion.
Mr. Laurel noted that the DA actually needs P500 billion a year to address the needs of the entire farming sector, including Irrigation.
“But of course, that can’t happen because we have limitations on the budget,” he said. “We have to make the best use of the money we have.”
The Department of Budget and Management has said proposals for the 2026 national budget have surged to P11 trillion, up 20% from the initial funding requests put forward in compiling the 2025 budget.
Mr. Laurel said sugar, coconut, and onion will be the focus next year to balance out the department’s usual emphasis on rice.
“For the last few years, we have given so much for rice” he added.
He noted that rice gets P30 billion in modernization funds annually from rice tariffs.
He said the National Food Authority will need to double its palay-procurement budget to P18 billion to support the P20-per-kilo subsidized-rice program, he added.
Mr. Laurel said the priority for sugar is to boost irrigation through the use of shallow tube wells.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration has said that it hopes to procure 16,000 shallow-tube wells for its solar irrigation project, which would be deployed to about a third of the land planted to sugar, or about 160,000 hectares.
Mr. Laurel said the DA will also roll out a soil rejuvenation program to address acidity on sugar farms.
“We would like to have better planting materials for our sugar farmers so they could produce more per hectare,” he added.
The DA also plans to put up a research and extension center for onion farmers, Mr. Laurel said.
He said coconut groves will be extensively replanted next year in anticipation of higher global prices for coconut products.
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has increased its planting target to 50 million coconut trees in 2026, up from the original goal of 25 million.
The PCA also seeks to boost the productivity of the 340 million current coconut trees through a fertilization program. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
