REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bil No. 7839

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

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
hhas 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suffered from outdated data gathering procedures in LGU information used in agricultural planning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-level 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.

A little known fact, however is that in Mina, Hoilo, the local government unit and their
Municipal Agriculture Office has initiated the necessary reforms to address such problems through
MAIS or the Municipal Agriculture Information System. It serves as a database decision-making
tool with an up-to-date inventory of all agricultural commodities in the LGU and provides for the
‘easy access to a commodity’s real-time supply and production situation at all times.

‘The system can generate monthly information both on real-time and projected information.
In Mina, there are about 1,800 farmers that have been included and were able to access information
available in the online system, which is managed by the Agriculture Office. Clients can either call
via phone or visit the Municipal Agriculture Office to get real-time information about agricultural
products available. There is also a summary of monthly information that can be viewed on the
website of the Integrated Central Iloilo Alliance for Economic Development (ICIA-ED). All this
information are data generated by the MAIS and are regularly posted on the website for reference of
possible buyers and investors.

‘Therefore, under this proposed measure, this representation aims to realize the potential of
MAIS jin the national level through an enabling law establishing the Municipal Agriculture
Information System in all cities and municipalities in the country, with the end goal of integrating
and linking 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.



30

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bitt No._7835

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

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.

Furthermore, through a synchronized agriculture information system, farmers, LGUs, and
ultimately, the national goverment 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
d. to secure to our farmers additional sources of income;

€. 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.—A\l cities and municipalities are
hereby directed to establish and implement a Municipal Agriculture Information System (MAIS).
MAIS shall serve as a dynamic online computer database where information on the demand for
specific agricultural commodities is gathered simultaneously with the production data from farmers
in every barangay. It shall aim to merge and synchronize agricultural data from different sources
into a cohesive database designed to facilitate linkages from place of origin (farm) to local and
ultimately, global markets.

Specifically, the Municipal Agriculture Information System shall have the following
features and contents:

a. Municipal/city-wide identification of farmers producing specific farm products
either produced in small or large quantities:

b. Forecasting of crops harvest, volume, and type;

c. An inventory of specific classification of crop varictics planted and livestock
raised in a particular local government unit;

. Farmers’ demographics, which shall include the age group, gender, and seminars
and/or trainings attended;

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

f. Facilitation of marketing linkages by providing for the farmer's contact number,
address and farm location;

g. A search engine that shall allow—


1. for farmers to search for potential customers/buyers;

2. for customers/buyers to search for farms, farmers, and available
agricultural products; and

h. A customizable dashboard, accessible only to registered farmer clients, that shall
contain the farmer’s profile, farm details, including but not limited to, the farm’s land area,
crops planted, and livestock raised.

SEC. 5. Registration.—All cities and municipalities shall encourage and facilitate the free
registration in the Municipal Agriculture Information System of all local farmers, including
customers/buyers transacting within their respective jurisdictions.

SEC. 6. Encoding of Data.—A\i 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 shail submit the data report to the supervising Agricultural Extension
Worker (AEW) of the local government unit; finally

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 shall 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 link all
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:


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 shall—

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. Repeating 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. 14. Effectivity.—This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its publication
in the Official Gazette and in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,