Republic of the Philippines 2 9x
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES f io RECEIVED
‘Quezon City, Metro Manila 3 patefe®. 8
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“NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

Howse BILLNo._7187

Introduced by Representative Ivan Howard A. Guintu

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Section 5, Article XIII of the 1987 Constitution provides that the State “shall provide
support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research, and adequate financial,
production, marketing, and other support services.”

Despite the abundance of arable land and marine resources in the country, the
contribution of the agriculture sector to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has been
declining over the past years. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),
agriculture, fisheries and forestry (AFF) comprised 8.9% of the total GDP in 2022,
comparatively lower to its 9.6% share in 2021."

The decline in the agriculture sector can be attributed to multiple factors, one of
which is the outdated agricultural data gathering procedures and methods at the local
government unit level. More often than not, agriculture data are outdated and not readily
accessible and available to the public. The lack of complete and real-time data on agricultural
products available at the local level has led to a mismatch between production and demand,
resulting in either: (1) oversupply which leads to wastage of unsold agriculture goods, or (2)
undersupply which leads to exorbitant prices of agricultural commodities.

It is already a common scenario in our agriculture sector where the overproduction of
certain agricultural produce would force farmers to dump their produce since they would
incur more losses if they market and sell their products at an extremely low price. In early
February 2023, it was reported that more than five hundred kilos of tomatoes were dumped
by farmers in the province of Nueva Vizcaya. Provincial authorities cited as one of the

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reasons for the failure to address the oversupply was the lack of linkages with other provinces
on the volume of their production.”

With accessible and readily available real-time data, farmers will have more
information at their disposal to aid their decision making in terms of choosing what to plant
and when to plant in order to avoid overproduction of certain crops or vegetables that may
ultimately lead to wastage, especially of perishable agricultural goods. Furthermore, a
database containing real-time inventory of all agricultural commodities available in various
local communities can make the agricultural market more efficient since traders can easily
identify localities where there is an overconcentration of certain agricultural goods and
market them to places that have a high demand for such.

‘Thus, this proposed measure aims to establish the Agricultural Information System
(AIS) in all cities and municipalities in the country. The AIS shall contain an up-to-date
database of agricultural and fisheries products, crop harvest, volume, type forecasting as well
as demographics of farmers and fisherfolks and shall be integrated and linked to one
centralized database under the Department of Agriculture. The measure also aims to set up
data tools including a search engine, a customizable dashboard and a crop calendar, among
others, to aid users in the access and interpretation of data available in the AIS.

In view of the foregoing, early passage of this bill is sought.

—_—

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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

econ
HOUSE BILL NO. 7187

Introduced by Representative Ivan Howard Guintu

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.”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to uplift the
socio-economic conditions of farmers and farming communities nationwide 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 commodity supply
inventory and registry system linking farmers and organized communities all over the country
need to be established to provide 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 shall have access to real-time agricultural
information which can rationalize the objectives and policy directives in the agricultural
sector.

SEC. 3. Objectives. - This Act aims to attain the following objectives:
a. Provide an up-to-date database of agricultural and fisheries products in a locality;

b. Fosters information sharing between farmers and potential buyers of agricultural and
fisheries products;

c. Secure a market for agricultural and fisheries products and ensure the appropriate
return of investment for farmers and fisheries stakeholders;


d. Allow local government units to manage a secure and independent platform that
creates linkages for farmers and fisheries stakeholders;

ce. Provide data on specific commodities that are readily available in a particular locality
for purposes of production monitoring to meet the demands of the market;

£ Provide a secure, transparent, and independent modern web application that may be
accessed anytime by the public through multi-platform support or cross-platform
support devices which can be linked to existing systems in the Department of
Agriculture (DA);

g. Streamline training and seminars in the management of the operations;

h. Monitor the use of inputs given by producers, buyers, and other segments of the value
chain including information during post-harvest and processing; and

i. Ensure that all forms of assistance given to local government units (LGUs), registered
cooperatives, and other qualified individuals and organizations are monitored.

SEC. 4. Agriculture Information System. — All cities and municipalities are hereby
mandated to establish an Agriculture Information System (AIS), hereinafter referred to as
Information System. The AIS shall serve as a dynamic online computer database where
information on the demands for specific agricultural and fisheries commodities is gathered
and uploaded simultaneously with the production data from farmers in every barangay. The
AIS shall merge and synchronize agricultural data from different sources into a cohesive
database designed to facilitate and also be integrated with existing systems of the DA.

The Information System shall have the following features and contents:

a. Municipal and city-wide identification of individual farmers, fish breeders, and
fisherfolk as well as qualified organizations which produce specific farm and fisheries
products, regardless of quantity:

b. Crop harvest, volume, and type forecasting;

c. Inventory of specific classification of crop varieties planted, livestock, and type of
fish raised in a particular LGU;

d. Farmers’ and fisherfolk demographics, including age group, gender, ethnic group,
income, seminars, training attended, and assistance received;

e. Selected reports presented in both tabular and graphical form;


f. Registered farmers’ contact details and farm location to facilitate market linkages;

. Search engine which allows farmers, fish breeders, and fisherfolk to look for potential
and actual buyers and for such buyers to search for farms, farmers, and available
agricultural and fisheries products; and

hh. Customizable dashboard which is accessible only to registered farmers and fisherfolk
clients and contains the farmers’ and fisherfolk’s profiles such as the area of the farm,
or fishpond, crops planted, livestock, and type of fish raised.

i. A crop calendar for suggested production for each province based on available data
on crop volume, prices and forecasted demand.

SEC. 5. Registration. ~ All cities and municipalities shall encourage and facilitate the
free registration of all farmers, fisherfolk, as well as buyers transacting within their respective
areas in the Information System.

SEC. 6. Functions and Responsibilities of Cities and Municipalities. — The LGU
shall exercise the following functions and responsibilities:

a. The Municipal Agriculture Office, in coordination with the Municipal Agrarian
Reform Office, shall gather, encode, and consolidate all pertinent data on the profile
and demographics of farmers, fisherfolk as well as buyers;

b. Monitor and control farm inputs including machinery and equipment;
¢. For municipalities and component cities, prepare and submit real-time data under (a)
and (b) to the provincial agricultural office and the respective regional offices of the

DA;

4. For highly urbanized cities, submit real-time data to the respective regional offices of
the DA;

e. Establish farmer and buyer linkages and act as a gatekeeper at the city or municipal
evel in the nationwide marketing of agricultural products; and

£. Serve as the web administrator at the municipal or city level and be responsible for
integrating farm and fisheries locations into the geographic integration system map.

SEC. 7. Functions and Responsibilities of the Province. — The provincial
government shall have the following functions and responsibilities:

a. The Provincial Planning and Development Office (PDDO) is the web administrator at
the provincial level and is responsible for integrating farm and fisheries data into the


geographic integration systems maps for agriculture and fisheries;

b. The Local Economic and Investment Promotion Office (LEIPO) acts as the lead
administrator of the AIS at the provincial level and ensures the balance between
supply and demand;

c. The Provincial Agricultural Office monitors the submission of reports from
municipalities and component cities, and ensures the completeness, accuracy, and
validity of data submitted by the Municipal Agricultural Offices and the Municipal
Agrarian Reform Offices; and

d. Except for highly urbanized cities, prepare and submit such data to the regional office
of the DA.

SEC. 8. Functions and Responsibilities of the Regional Office of the DA. — The
regional office of the DA shall have the following functions and responsibilities:

a. Integrate the data provided by the provinces and highly urbanized cities in the existing
information systems of the DA such as the National Farmers and Fisheries
Information System (NFFIS) which is the a web-based data collection system that
serves as a platform for updating the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture
(RSBSA);

b. Collaborate with regional offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to
facilitate the availment of the various programs of the DTI as well as strengthen
market linkages through such programs;

c. Recommend to the central office of the DA appropriate interventions in the form of
marketing, importation, and training assistance, as may be needed;

d. Validate the data from the LGU acting as the system administrator at the regional
level and provide a real-time report to the central office of the DA; and

e. Endorse for financial assistance the qualified fifth and sixth class municipalities that
can be given assistance and maintain their respective AIS.

f. Propose a crop calendar for suggested production for each province based on
available data and demand forecasting with the purpose of preventing oversupply and

wastage of agricultural produce;

SEC. 9. Functions and Responsibilities of the Central Office of the DA, — The
central office of the DA shall have the following functions and responsibilities:

a. Allocate funding for the integration of the AIS with existing information systems;


b. Coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology
(DICT) to upgrade, expand, and integrate its information systems;

¢. Ensure that the implementation, appropriate verification processes, and information
safeguards are in place under existing laws and regulations, in coordination with the
DICT, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), National Privacy Commission (NPC),
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of
Science and Technology (DOST);

. Approve the prioritized interventions for the creation of market linkages in the
domestic and international markets; and

e. Provide safety nets in the import and export of agricultural products to support
farmers.

SEC. 10. Duties of the Secretary. - The Secretary of the DA shall monitor and ensure
the compliance of all cities and municipalities as provided for under this Act and shall, as
soon as practicable, establish a centralized AIS that shall integrate and link all existing
information systems in the country.

SEC. 11. Reports, — The Secretary of the DA shall prepare and submit to the
President and both Houses of Congress an annual report on the implementation of the
program which shall contain a list of accomplishments and recommendations for
improvements.

SEC. 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 and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act.

SEC. 13. Appropriations. — The Secretary of Agriculture shall include in the
Department!s programs the establishment of the integrated and centralized AIS, the funding
of which shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act. The LGUs shall provide
the necessary for the establishment of an AIS in their respective annual budgets.

SEC. 14. Separability Clause. — If any provision of this Act is declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the other provisions not affected by such declaration shall remain in full
force and effect.

SEC. 15. Repealing Clause. — All laws, 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.


SEC. 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,