Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila
NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. _______________
Introduced by ANG PROBINSYANO
Party-List Representative Alfred Delos Santos
EXPLANATORY NOTE
As an agricultural country, it is highly necessary that we bank on the strengths
of our industry and produce. It is also shown during times of emergency and crisis
that there exists a gap in the information system involving our farming sector when it
was recently shown that a lot of farming communities are forced to throw away their
crops due to the supposed oversupply. However, upon careful investigation, it shows
that there actually exists demand in several areas in the country which are not taken
into account because of this information gap.
In March 2020, Cordillera farmers went home with empty pockets after failing
to sell their harvest at the La Trinidad Trading Post in Benguet due to low demand for
vegetables in the region. farmers in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) are still
taking a hit from the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, limiting the
movement
of
consumers
on
the
northern
island.1
Fortunately,
several
local
government units in the National Capital Region were able to eventually buy produce
in order to use it as aid to their constituents which are on lockdown.
Hence, it is for these reasons that this bill is earnestly sought.
ALFRED C. DELOS SANTOS
Representative, Ang Probinsyano Party-List
1https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/25/20/cordillera-farmers-throw-away-veggies-due-to-lack-of-buyers-amid-
covid-19-quarantine
July 29, 2022
1:04 pm
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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila
NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. _______________
Introduced by ANG PROBINSYANO
Party-List Representative Alfred Delos Santos
AN ACT
ESTABLISHING THE AGRICULTURE INFORMATION SYSTEM IN ALL CITIES AND
MUNICIPALITIES
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines
in Congress assembled:
SECTION
1. Short Title.
– This Act shall be known as the “Agriculture
Information System Act.”
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. – It is the policy of the State to uplift the
socio-economic conditions of farmers and farming communities nationwide in order to
promote their welfare and empower their sector in the overall development and
progress of the country. Pursuant to this, an integrated, computerized, web-based
agricultural commodities supply inventory and registry system linking farmers and
organized communities all over the country needs to be established to provide an
easy-to-access local and global real time information for agricultural commodities,
with an end view of creating a wider range of market linkages among farmers and
agricultural buyers. Furthermore, through a synchronized agriculture information
system,
the National Government should have access to real-time agricultural
information
which
can
rationalize
the
objectives
and
policy
directives
in
the
agricultural sector.
SECTION 3. Objectives. – This Act aims to attain the following objectives:
a) Provide an up-to-date database of agricultural products in the locality;
b) Facilitate linkages from farm-to-market among local government units;
c)
Provide data specific commodities readily available in the particular locality
for stakeholders;
d) Secure to the farmers additional sources of income;
e)
Encourage
the
farmers
to
engage
in synchronized agricultural mass
production to meet the voluminous demands of the market;
f)
Provide
a
modern
web
application
that
may
be
accessed
through
multi-platform support or cross-platform devices online;
g) Streamline training and seminars in the management of the operations;
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h) Monitor the use of inputs given to farmers;
i)
Facilitate information sharing on commodity flows, specifically, supply and
demand; and
j)
Ensure that government financial assistance is given only to duly formed
cooperatives and farmers groups.
SECTION 4. Agriculture Information System. – All cities and municipalities are
hereby mandated to establish an Agriculture Information System, hereinafter referred
to as Information System, which shall serve as a dynamic online computer database
for information on the demand for specific agricultural commodities which is gathered
simultaneously with the production data from farmers in every barangay. The
information system shall merge and synchronize agricultural data from different
sources into a cohesive database designed to facilitate linkages from the place of origin
or the farm to local, and ultimately, global markets.
The Information System shall have the following features and contents:
a) Municipal and city-wide identification of farmers who are producing specific
farm products in small or large quantities;
b) Crop harvests, volume, and type forecasting;
c)
Inventory of specific classification of crop varieties planted and livestock
raised in a particular local government unit;
d) Farmers’ demographics, including age group, gender, and seminars and
trainings attended;
e)
Selected reports presented in both tabular and graphical form;
f)
Registry of farmers’ contact details and farm location to facilitate market
linkages;
g) Search engine which allows farmers to search for potential buyers and
actual buyers to search for farms, farmers, and available agricultural
products; and
h) Customizable dashboard which is accessible only to registered farmer
clients and contains the farmer’s profile, farm details, farm’s land area,
crops planted, and livestock raised.
SECTION 5. Registration. – All cities and municipalities shall encourage and
facilitate the free registration of all farmers and buyers transacting within their
respective areas in the information system.
SECTION 6. Functions and Responsibilities of Local Government Units. – The
Local Government unit shall exercise the following functions and responsibilities:
a) Gather, encode, and consolidate the profile and demographics of farmers
and buyers as well as other pertinent agricultural data;
b) Monitor and control farm inputs including machineries and equipment;
c)
Prepare and submit real-time reports to the provincial office of the
Department of Agriculture; and
d) Establish farmer and buyer linkages and act as a gatekeeper at the city
or municipal level in the nationwide marketing of agricultural products.


SECTION 7. Functions and Responsibilities of the Provincial Government. – The
provincial government should have the following functions and responsibilities:
a) The Provincial Planning and Development Office is the web administrator
at the provincial level and is responsible for integrating farm locations
into the geographic integration system maps for agriculture;
b) The Local Economic and Investment Promotion Office acts as the lead
administrator of the Agriculture Information System at the provincial
level and serves as the market mitigator to maintain the balance between
supply and demand; and
c)
The provincial office of the Department of Agriculture monitors the
submission of reports from the local government units ensuring the
completeness and validity of data, and accuracy of reports submitted by
the Municipal Agricultural Office.
SECTION
8. Functions and Responsibilities of the Regional Office of the
Department of Agriculture. – The Regional Office of the Department of Agriculture shall
have the following functions and responsibilities:
a) Collaborate with different market linkages from other regions, integrating
geographic integration system data on project intervention, soil map,
suitability map, and commodity maps within the region;
b) Recommend to the central office of the Department of Agriculture
appropriate interventions in the form of marketing, importation, and
training assistance needed at the provincial level; and
c)
Validate the data from the provincial offices of the Department of
Agriculture, acting as the System Administrator at the regional level and
provide real-time reports to the central office of the Department of
Agriculture.
SECTION
9.
Functions
and
responsibilities
of
the
Central
Office
of
the
Department of Agriculture. – The Central Office of the Department of Agriculture shall
have the following functions and responsibilities:
a) Allocate funding for the operation and maintenance of the information
system;
b) Approve the prioritized interventions by the regional offices and allocate
corresponding funding;
c)
Collaborate with other agencies for the creation of market linkages in the
domestic and international markets; and
d) Provide safety nets in the import and export of agricultural products in
order to support farmers.
SECTION 10. Duties of the Secretary. – The Secretary of Agriculture shall
monitor and ensure the compliance of all cities and municipalities as provided under
this Act and shall, as soon as practicable, establish a centralized agricultural
information system that shall integrate and link all existing information systems in the
country


SECTION 11. Reports. – The Secretary of Agriculture shall prepare and submit
to the President and both houses of Congress an annual report on the program's
performance which shall contain a list of accomplishments and recommendations.
SECTION 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – Within ninety (90) days
after the effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate the
necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act.
SECTION 13. Appropriations. – The amount of money necessary for the effective
implementation of this Act shall be charged to the annual appropriations of the local
government units.
SECTION 14. Separability Clause. – If for any reason any part or provision of
this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions not
affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect.
SECTION 15. Repealing Clause. – All laws, presidential decrees, executive
orders, rules and regulations, or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the
provisions of this app or hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SECTION 16. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.
Approved,