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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City BY:
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EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

Second Regular Session

House Bill No,__7997

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. MANUEL DG. CABOCHAN III

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Despite the country having been blessed with fertile lands and a climate conducive for
agriculture, the agriculture sector remains an underperformer in the national economy. In
fact, even though it is one of the three main sectors of the Philippine economy, agriculture
remains as the most neglected in investments and development. Its contribution to the
national gross domestic product has declined to 11 percent from the previous 20 to 30
percent in 1969.

Aside from the lack of investments and development, Philippine agriculture has also
suffered from outdated data gathering procedures in LGU information used in agricultural
planning for production and marketing. The lack of complete, real-time data on
agricultural products available in the barangay-leve! and inadequate support for marketing
linkages to small farmers and farm cultivators has resulted to the fatal mismatching
between production and demand, therefore resulting to minimal gains.

Therefore, under this proposed measure, this representation aims to realize the potential
of MAIS in the national level through an enabling law establishing the Municipal
Agriculture Information System in all cities and municipalities in the country. The end goal
is to integrate and link all such systems into one centralized database under the


Department of Agriculture in order to rationalize the country's agricultural planning
processes.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this measure is earnestly sought.

MANUEL DG, CABOCHAN III
Representative
Magdalo Para sa Pilipino Party-List

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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. Cee

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. MANUEL DG. CABOCHAN III

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE MUNICIPAL AGRICULTURE INFORMATION SYSTEM

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short Title— This Act shall be known as the “Municipal
Agriculture Information System Act (MAIS Act).”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy.— It is hereby declared the policy of the State to
uplift the socio-economic conditions of farmers and farming communities nationwide
in order to improve their welfare and empower them as a vital sector in the overall
development and progress of the country. In pursuance of these objectives, there
shall hereby be established, an integrated, computerized, online Agricultural
Commodity Supply Inventory/Registry System linking farmers and organized
communities all over the country with easy-to-access information on real-time
market demand, both local and global, for agricultural commodities with an end view
of creating a wider range of market linkages to both farmers and agricultural buyers.


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Furthermore, through a synchronized agriculture information system, farmers, LGUs,
and ultimately, the national government shall have access to real-time agricultural
information to rationalize the objectives and policy directives of the country's
agricultural planning.

SEC. 3. Objectives.—This Act aims to provide for the integration into a unified
Agricultural Commodity Supply Inventory/Registry System of all information in the
agricultural supply-demand chain in order to allow our farmers in every
city/municipality to perform with greater efficiency and competitiveness. An
information system shall operate to level the playing field among various market
players in the value chain and promote up-to-date information exchanges among
such players.

Specifically, this Act aims to attain the following objectives:

(a)to provide an up-to-date database of agricultural products in all local
government units (LGUs) in the country;

(b) to facilitate linkages from farms to markets among local government units;

(c)to provide for stakeholders data on the specific commodities readily
available in a particular locality;

(d) to secure to our farmers additional sources of income;

(e)to encourage farmers to engage in synchronized agricultural mass
production to meet the voluminous demands of the market;

(f) to provide for a modern web application that can be accessed through
multi platform support or cross-platform devices online;

(g)to streamline training and seminars in the management of these
operations; and

(h) to facilitate the transfer of information and exchange commodity flows,
specifically, supply and demand.

SEC. 4. Municipal Agriculture Information System— All cities and
municipalities are hereby directed to establish and implement a Municipal Agriculture
Information System (MAIS). MAIS shall serve as a dynamic online computer

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1 database where information on the demand for specific agricultural commodities is
2 gathered simultaneously with the production data from farmers in every barangay. It

3 shall aim to merge and synchronize agricultural data from different sources into a
4 cohesive database designed to facilitate linkages from place of origin (farm) to local
5 and ultimately, global markets.
6
7 Specifically, the Municipal Agriculture Information System shall have the following
8 features and contents:
9 (a) Municipal/city-wide identification of farmers producing specific farm
10 products either produced in small or large quantities;
MW (b) Forecasting of crops harvest, volume, and type;
2 (c) An inventory of specific classification of crop varieties planted and livestock
13 raised in a particular local government unit;
4 (d) Farmers’ demographics, which shall include the age group, gender, and
1s seminars and/or trainings attended;
16 (e) Selected reports presented in both tabular and graphical form;
7 (f) Facilitation of marketing linkages by providing for the farmer's contact
18 number, address and farm location;
19 (g)A search engine that shall allow—
(1) for farmers to search for potential customers/buyers;
21 (2) for customers/buyers to search for farms, farmers, and available

agricultural products; and
(h)A customizable dashboard, accessible only to registered farmer clients,

24 that shall contain the farmer's profile, farm details, including but not
25 limited to, the farm's land area, crops planted, and livestock raised.

26

oy SEC. 5. Registration.— All cities and municipalities shall encourage and

28 facilitate the free registration in the Municipal Agriculture Information System of all
29 local farmers, including customers/buyers transacting within their respective
30 jurisdictions.


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SEC. 6. Encoding of Data— All cities and municipalities shall observe the
following procedure in the submission and confirmation of agricultural data
submitted for inclusion in the MAIS:

(a) The Barangay Agricultural Workers (BAW) shall be in charge of gathering
the agricultural data submitted by the farmers within the barangay under
their jurisdiction;

(b)The BAW shall submit the data report to the supervising Agricultural
Extension Worker (AEW) of the local government unit; and

(c) The AEWs shall validate the data duly submitted by the BAW and to make
the necessary corrections and edits before finally encoding the data in the
online database.

SEC. 7. Monitoring— The Barangay Agricultural Workers and the Agricultural
Extension Worker in the cities/municipalities concerned shalll jointly, from the date of
planting until harvesting, and as to whether the harvested crops have been used for
private consumption or sold in the market, monitor and make the necessary updates
in the MAIS database regularly.

For fisheries, poultry, and livestock, population and volume and information
as to whether such fisheries, poultry, and livestock have been used for private
consumption, sold in the market or have died shall be monitored and updated
monthly.

SEC. 8. Duties of the Secretary— The Secretary of Agriculture shall monitor
and ensure the compliance of all cities/municipalities under the purposes of this Act
and shall, as soon as practicable, establish a centralized agricultural information
system that shall integrate and linkall existing Municipal Agricultural Information
Systems in the country.

SEC. 9. Reports. —
(a) The reports that shall be included in the MAIS database shall include:

(1) Agriculture Products Ledger;

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(2) Farmer's Master List;

(3) Municipal/City Farm Resource Inventory;

(4) Barangay Farm Resource Inventory;

(5) Livestock Inventory;

(6) Crops Planted/Expected Date of Harvest Inventory; and
(7) Barangay Monthly Farm Production Report.

(b) Reports by the Secretary.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall each year
prepare and submit to the President and both houses of Congress a report
on the program's performance. Each report shalli—

(1) review the success of achieving the program's goals within the
year;

(2) explain and describe, when a goal has not been met;

(3)include the summary findings of the program's evaluation
completed during the year covered by the report.

SEC. 10. Implementing Rules and Regulations— The Department of
Agriculture shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective
implementation of the purposes of hits Act.

SEC. 11. Appropriations— The amount necessary for the implementation of
this Act shall be charged against the annual appropriated funding of the Department
of Agriculture in the General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 12. Separability Clause— If any provision, section or part of this Act
shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
invalidate or impair any other provisions, sections, or parts thereof.

SEC. 13. Repealing Clause.— All |aws, presidential decrees, executive orders,
rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.


1 SEC. 14. Effectivity— This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its

2 publication in the Official Gazette and in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,