REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
‘Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
‘Third Regular Session

House Bill No. 8036

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. GARY C. ALEJANO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Ina survey by the Social Weather Station (SWS) during the fourth quarter of 2017, 15.7 per
cent or 7.2 million adults were jobless—the lowest rate in 13 years. 7.2 million, however, is still a
considerably large number. It means that there are still millions of Filipinos straggling to provide
for themselves financial stability and security; that there remain millions unable to find a viable
means of subsistence.

‘Thus, this proposed measure aims to utilize idle or underutilized hands to allay the persistent
problem of unemployment and underemployment, especially on rural areas. One million hectares of
such lands will be converted into modern productive agricultural resources, planted with hybrid
com, cassava, and high value commercial crops. It is expected that at least a million rural jobs will
be created and with annual farm incomes of at least Twenty Five Thousand Pesos shall be
generated.

If excellently implemented, the country can expect a major reduction on rural poverty,
unemployment, and underemployment.

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

P. GARY/C. ALEJANO.


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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
‘Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
‘Third Regular Session

House Bill No._ 8036 _

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. GARY C. ALEJANO

AN ACT
‘TO ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDLE AND UNDERUTILIZED
AGRICULTURAL LANDS AS MEANS TO GENERATE EMPLOYMENT

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 “Rural Employment
Generation Act.”

SEC. 2. Objectives—There is a need to accelerate the development of idle and
underutilized agricultural land throughout the country as a means of generating rural economic
activity, especially since the majority of our country’s poor population belongs to the rural sector.
In generating rural employment, it is anticipated that at least one person will find employment for
ever hectare developed, with an increase in income of twenty five thousand pesos (P25,000) Pesos
per farmer.

SEC. 3. Lead Agency.—The Department of Agriculture (DA) shall undertake the
implementation of the Rural Employment Generation Program (hereafter referred to as the
“program™) and shall ensure implementation of this Act and its purposes, including the
determination of areas to be planted.

SEC. 4, Activities to be Undertaken.—DA shall undertake the development of a total of
845,000 hectares of idle or underutilized agricultural land, to be planted hybrid com, cassava, and
high value commercial props (HVCC) over a period of two (2) years, as follows:

Yr 1 Hectares Planted Yr 2 Hectares Planted

Corn 404,000 613,000

(Cassava 20,000 88,000



VCC 185,000 194,000

SEC. 5. Features of the Program.—The program shall have the following features:

a) Modern Technology Systems.—The program will consolidate existing crop areas
as well as idle prime lands into farm cluster modules for mechanized and/or irrigated
production of hybrid com, cassava, and HVCC;

b) Production Credit Support.—To ensure the adoption of modem crop production
technologies, the program will enhance farmers’ access to credit for the purchase of
production inputs through innovative credit schemes through the establishment of a
seed/guarantee fund for production loans to be extended by input suppliers, end-users,

traders, _service providers, and the formal banking sector.

c) Human Resource Development.—The program shall train farmers on hybrid
technologies, farm mechanization, post-harvest and processing technologies and promote
local capacity-building in areas of participatory program management and implementation,
research and extension and agribusiness marketing management.

SEC. 6. Farmer-Agribusiness Tie-Ups.—The DA shall participate arrangements between
farmers and agribusiness groups in the development of agricultural lands. Different business
partnership modalities shall be established between farmer cooperatives and the private sector to
provide ready markets, management and technical support, in whichever form most suitable for
rural development, including but not limited to purchase orders, service or management contracts,
contract growing or processing arrangements, lease agreements and joint venture agreements.

SEC. 7. Quality Standards and Classification Systems.—Quality standards and
classification systems shall be developed by the DA and implemented for feed grains, vegetables,
fibers, fruits, and industrial crops in order to ensure better prices and competitiveness of domestic
produce.

SEC. 8. Joint Government-Private Sector Committee —A committee is hereby created,
consisting of the Secretary of Agriculture as Chairman, a representative of the private sector
involved in agriculture as Vice Chairman, two representative _s of the farmer-beneficiaries, two
representatives of agribusiness companies involved in the program, and two officials of the DA as
members, all of which shall be appointed by the President of the Republic of the Philippines upon


recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture. The committee shall facilitate the assistance of the
private sector in the identification of farmer-beneficiaries, credit-channels, and market and service
providers and shall oversee the administration, management and implementation of the program.

SEC. 9. Establishment of the Agricultural Development Fund.—The Agricultural
Development Fund (the “fund”) is hereby established, in the amount of Pesos: Five Billion Five
Hundred Fifty One Million (P5,551,000,000.00) for the first year and Four Billion Seventy Eight
Million (P4,078,000,000.00) in the second year of the program. The fund shall be taken from the
budget allocation of the DA, and will be utilized for the provision of a seed/loan guarantee fund for
the production loans and direct government intervention in the provision of, among others, farm
machinery, and post-harvest facilities, farm-to-market roads, and human resource development

activities.

SEC. 10. Separability Clause—1f any provision of this Act shall be declared
unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions of this Act not otherwise affected, shall remain in
full force and effect.

SEC. 11. Repealing Clause.—A\l laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations, and all other
issuances, or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified

accordingly.

SEC. 12. Effectivity.—This Act shall take effect following its publication in at least two (2)
newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,