“AGBIAG KA!” Long Live! BBM Sir. As President & Interim Agriculture Secretary, You Can Recreate The Department Of Agriculture (DA) To Be Adaptable, Cooperative & Efficient (ACE): ACE Addressing Needs Of Farmers And Public To March Into Prosperity!


Finally, I old UPLB alumnus see the light! The problem is the Department of Agriculture (DA), not the Secretary of Agriculture, currently William Dar, who anticipates: “The DA becomes the topmost priority.” My greeting-advice to BBM is “AGBIAG KA!” acronym for “All-Around Generic Breakup Before Buildup of Institutions in Agriculture Allowing A1 Governance with Knowledge Keen & Administrative Acuity!”

(top image, Facebook sharing of William Dar, facebook.com;

How do you solve a problem like DA? Look: The DA is a multi-headed hydra! Here are the lists from Wikipedia[“Department of Agriculture” (Philippines), en.wikipedia.org], with my alphabetization –

8 regular agencies:
Agricultural Training Institute (ATI),
Bureau of Agricultural & Fisheries Engineering (BAFE).
Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR)
Bureau of Agriculture & Fisheries Standards (BAFS)
Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI)
Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources (BFAR)
Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI)
Bureau of Soils & Water Management (BSWM).

19 attached agencies:
Agricultural Credit & Policy Council (ACPC)
Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA)
National Dairy Authority (NDA)
National Fisheries Research & Development Institute (NFRDI)
National Food Authority (NFA)
National Irrigation Administration (NIA)
National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS)
National Tobacco Administration (NTA)
Philippine Carabao Center (PCC)
Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech)[11]
Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)
Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fishery (PCAF)
Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC)
Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA)
Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA)
Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice)
Quedan Rural Credit and Guarantee Corporation (QUEDANCOR)
Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC)
Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).

The DA is a multi-headed hydra! Those 27 separate offices must be reorganized to become Adaptable, Cooperative & Efficient (ACE).

Even with what I call the DA’s Bible, “The New Thinking For Agriculture” that Mr Dar brought with him upon assumption to office as Secretary of Agriculture on 06 Aug 2019, those 27 pairs of eyes are not on the same page any time!

At this point, what is priorly pertinent is how former Director General of the National Economic & Development Authority (NEDA) Cielito F Habito looked at the whole DA (14 June 2022, “Seven Deadly Sins,” Inquirer.net, opinion.inquirer.net); my selection:

Having studied the sector for decades, I had concluded long ago that what Philippine agriculture most critically needs is fundamental bureaucratic and institutional reform...

(3) inordinately focused on farm production and neglected the rest of the agricultural value chain for a holistic systems perspective; (4)… largely structured and organized according to commodities rather than according to key central functions it must fulfill…

NEDA say more? In the matter of improving PH Agriculture by first necessarily overhauling the DA and its 27 separate bodies to become an ACE multi-body body – My head says, “3 heads are better than 1!” BBM, CFH, WDD. Gentlemen, what we need is a newer new thinking about PH Agriculture. I repeat: “Agbiag ka!” Long live, BBM Sir!@517
(“Long Live” image from Fire Shop, firerecords.com)

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