Agriculture and Fisheries Extension Act

Senate Office of the Surcham TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE ) First Regular Session 26 MAR 17 P6:32 SENATE RECEIVED BY: Senate Bill No. 1991 (In substitution of Senate Bill No. 1182) PREPARED BY THE COMMITTEES ON AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND AGRARIAN REFORM; AND FINANCE WITH SENATOR FRANCIS N. PANGILINAN AS AUTHOR THEREOF AN ACT STRENGTHENING THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES EXTENSION SYSTEM TO ACCELERATE AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT, CREATING THE BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR 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 "Agriculture and

Fisheries Extension Act."

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. - The goals of national economy are a more

4 equitable distribution of opportunities, income and wealth; a sustained increase in the 5 amount of goods and services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged. The State shall ensure the food security of the country. It shall encourage and assist local food producers, particularly the multitude of small farmers and fisherfolk, to produce the country's food requirements by equipping them with essential and applicable knowledge and building their capabilities. Towards this end, the State shall strengthen initiatives that ensure a sustained, efficient and effective delivery of such interventions, enlisting the broadest

1 participation of all segments of society, and guaranteeing the high-morale and welfare 2 of those who shall take part in such interventions. It shall strengthen its agricultural 3 extension system to assist our farmers and fisherfolk in their production and post- 4 production activities. It shall provide the necessary budgetary support to achieve the 5 goal of securing the country's food supply, through an empowered and economically prosperous agricultural sector.

Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

a. Agriculture/Fisheries Extension refers to the system of support that provides farmers, fisherfolk, and other agriculture and fisheries stakeholders with the knowledge, skills, and practices they need to improve their livelihoods and well- being. It encompasses a range of activities that strengthen the technical, organizational, and managerial capacities of farmers/fisherfolk cooperatives, associations (FCAs) and communities, enabling them to make informed decisions, adopt innovations, and enhance productivity and sustainability. Consistent with the four (4) core services defined under Republic Act No. 8435 or the "Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA)," agricultural extension includes training services, farm and business advisory services, technology demonstration, and information and communication support services, which facilitates learning, innovation, and problem-solving. Agricultural extension likewise plays a critical role in organizing, developing, and strengthening FCAs to transform them into viable profitable and bankable enterprises; b. Agriculture/Fisheries Extension Worker (AEW.) refers to a person who has acquired the necessary. competencies for agricultural or fisheries extension through formal education, accreditation, or other legally recognized pathways, including but not limited to the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP), and who may be a graduate of at least a bachelor's degree in agriculture, agricultural and biosystems engineering, agricultural economics, food technology, veterinary medicine, fisheries, or other related courses, including agricultural technicians or technologists and

quarantine officers, and who is registered or licensed, where applicable, with the Professional Regulation Commission or the Civil Service Commission. An AEW includes all personnel, whether plantilla or contract of service, at the national, regional, and local levels, performing extension-related functions under the Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Training Institute. Such personnel perform direct technical assistance, facilitation, and capacity-building functions including communication and information services, curriculum and training development, agricultural and coastal community organizing, econometric and statistical analysis, water and natural resource management, veterinary and animal health services, and other training and extension activities related to agricultural and fisheries production, trade, and processing, including crop and animal protection, food safety, agricultural and natural resource economics, and marketing. For purposes of this Act, the terms "Agriculture Development Worker (ADW)," "Agriculture Extension Worker," "Agriculture/Fishery Development Worker (A/FDW)," and "Agriculture/Fishery Extension Worker (A/FEW)" are used interchangeably; c. Department refers to the Department of Agriculture; d. Local Development Hub refers to a farming zone or transport infrastructure, which is generally far from formal markets. An LDH serves around five hundred (500) to one thousand (1,000) farmers, and links them, among others, to buyers, traders, processors, and export companies; e. Roadmap refers to a strategic, time-bound, specific, targeted, measurable plan that defines a desired goal or outcome, which shall include the major steps or milestones needed to reach such goal or outcome; and f. Secretary refers to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

Sec. 4. Creation of the Bureau of Agricultural Extension (BAEX). - The

Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) is hereby transformed and strengthened into the Bureau of Agricultural Extension, hereinafter referred to as the BAEX. It shall be a line bureau in the Department of Agriculture, under the supervision of the Undersecretary for Operations. As a line bureau, it shall maintain physical offices at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels.

The BAEX shall be headed by a Bureau Director, with two (2) Assistant Directors at the national level, who shall head the Technical Service, and the Administration and Finance Service, respectively. It shall further be comprised of such other personnel nationwide, as indicated in the Plantilla under Sec. 8 of this Act. The Bureau Director and the Assistant Directors shall have at least ten (10) years of experience in the fields of agricultural or fishery education, research or training; the regional directors shall have at least five (5) years of the same experience. They shall all be appointed by the President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary.

Sec. 5. Powers and Functions. - The BAEx shall have the following powers

and functions: a) Serve as the national apex organization for a unified and efficient agriculture and fisheries extension system of the country. It shall ensure that public extension services meet the national standards of performance and effectively contribute towards the achievement of the national goals of agriculture and fisheries modernization and sustainable development; b) Provide education and training to BAEx personnel not only for their own professional growth, but also for specific knowledge and expertise, especially those who conduct education and training at the grassroots level, whose knowledge and expertise shall in turn be imparted to farmers and fisherfolk; c) Conduct and administer education and training activities to farmers and fisherfolk in the fields of collective organizing and undertaking, production skills and techniques, product value-adding, value and supply chain concepts and practices, agri-entrepreneurship, agri-industrialization, export readiness, internet of things, artificial intelligence, transfer of information and technology, digital farming, sustainable environment, climate change resilience, among others; d) Establish and maintain working relationships with State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) at the national and local level, the LGUs, business groups, non-government organizations, and other entities that can contribute to the

enrichment of BAEX's education and training system, and inversely, can derive benefits from the products and outputs of local farmers and fisherfolk; e) Craft, enrich, and maintain the Roadmap for Agricultural Extension Development, in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the SUCs, business groups, civic organizations, among others; f) Tap into and utilize outputs of centers of research excellence in collaboration with agricultural and fishery SUCs for use in the implementation of programs and projects in the areas of extension innovations, national training, impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation; g) Provide leadership in developing and implementing a national system of strengthening institutional extension capacities at all levels of implementation; i) Conduct studies and establish and maintain databases on agricultural extension and agricultural and fisheries development; and j) Exercise all other powers necessary to achieve the purposes of this Act.

Sec. 6. Agricultural Extension Development Roadmap. - Within one

hundred twenty (120) days from the effectivity of this Act, the BAEx, in collaboration with CHED and the agricultural and fishery SUCs, shall have finalized the ten (10)-year Roadmap for Agricultural Extension Development. The Roadmap shall serve, not only as a guide to the implementation of its own projects and programs, but also to apprise and educate the public of the mission and work of the BAEx. The Roadmap may be updated earlier than the end of its 10-year period, as circumstances so warrant. The Roadmap shall contain, among others, the annual projected budgetary requirements, including the establishment of the Local Development Hub. The Department shall allocate the required budget for the crafting and updating of the Roadmap.

Sec. 7. Authority of the Secretary. - The Secretary, upon the

recommendation of the Undersecretary for Operations and the BAEx Director, shall have the authority to create composite bodies, such as, but not limited to, advisory or coordinative bodies, councils and the like, from within the offices of the Department

or from the outside, thru inter-Department or inter-agency collaboration, to assist and strengthen the service delivery of BAEx. The Secretary is herein authorized to allocate budget for the purpose for which these bodies are to be created, and the heads of the other Departments or agencies are likewise authorized to allocate their respective budget in this regard, subject to relevant budgeting rules and regulations. The Secretary is also authorized to reorganize the Department's internal offices to determine if existing ones, in the interest of economy and efficiency, need to be integrated into the establishment of the BAEx, subject to the provisions of Republic: 9 Act No. 12231 or the "Government Optimization Act".

Sec. 8. CHED and the Agricultural and Fishery SUCs. - The CHED and the

agricultural and fishery SUCs are hereby mandated to collaborate with the BAEx in delivering extension services to local farmers and fisherfolk. They shall provide assistance to the overall thrust of agricultural extension in the form of, but not limited to, education and training curricula enrichment, transfer of knowledge and skills, sharing of outputs of applied research, actual conduct of trainings, provision of venue for extension-related activities. Upon the effectivity of this Act, the Department, CHED and the agricultural and fishery SUCs shall integrate their respective internship/on-the-job student programs into the overall extension system of the BAEX. The Department, CHED, BAE and the agricultural and fishery SUCs shall devise Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) or any other similar document that shall embody their collaboration. The CHED and the agricultural and fishery SUCs shall allocate the 23 required budget for the fulfillment of this mandate.

Sec. 9. Plantilla of BAEx Personnel. - There shall be a plantilla of positions

in the BAEX, namely: Bureau Director, two (2) Assistant Directors, Regional Agriculture 26 and Fisheries Officer (RAFO), Provincial Agriculture and Fisheries Officer (PAFO), 27 Assistant PAFO for Agricultural Development, Assistant PAFO for Fisheries Development, City Agriculture and Fisheries Officer (CAFO), Municipal Agriculture and Fisheries Officer (MAFO); and Agriculture/Fishery Extension Worker (AEW). The Department shall provide the details of the Plantila, reflecting the number of AEWs in 31 every municipality in the country.

1° The AEWs currently employed with the LGUs, if they so intend to join the BAEX, shall be given preference in the filling up of these plantilla positions. Their absorption into the BAEx shall not in any way result in the diminution of benefits already received as an AEW. The basic salary grade entry for Technical AEWs shall be Salary Grade 15, in the Government's Salary Grade Scale. Sec, 10. Training and Scholarship Programs. - The Department through the BAEx shall undertake training and scholarship programs for agricultural extension workers, which shall be provided adequate budgetary support by the National Government.

Sec. 11. Other Compensation and Benefits. - As indicated herein,

agricultural extension workers shall be entitled to the following additional compensation and benefits: a) Representation Allowance and Traveling Allowance - All Regional/Provincial/City/Municipal AF Officers shall be entitled to Representation Allowance and Traveling Allowance (RATA). b) Hazard Allowance - All agricultural extension workers in the assigned in 18. difficult areas, strife-torn or embattled areas, distressed or isolated stations, animal/ plant/ fisheries breeding station, plant nurseries, plantations and demonstration farms, laboratories especially those handling x-rays, radioisotopes, chemicals, etc., sea-borne patrols, construction and installation of agricultural infrastructure projects, and other areas declared under a state of calamity or emergency which exposes them to great danger, occupational risks of perils of life shall be compensated with hazard allowance equivalent to at least twenty per centum (20%) of the monthly basic salary. c) Subsistence Allowance - All agricultural extension workers who are required to render services in the communities, institutions, animal and plant breeding nurseries, plantations and demonstration farms and other barrier programs and projects of the Department in order to make their services available at all times, shall be entitled to full daily subsistence allowance of

three (3) meals, which shall be computed in accordance with the prevailing circumstances. d) Longevity Pay - A longevity pay equivalent to five per centum (5%) of the monthly basic pay shall be paid to an AEW for every three (3) years of continuous, efficient and meritorious services rendered. e) Clothing Allowance - All agricultural extension workers shall be entitled to a clothing allowance in accordance with the approved laws and regulations or as mandated by law. f) Free Living Quarters or Quarters Allowance - All agricultural extension workers who are on tour of duty and those who, because of unavoidable circumstances, are forced to stay in the institution or community shall receive quarters allowance. Quarters allowance shall be reviewed periodically and adjusted accordingly. g) Salary Increase Three (3) Months Prior to Compulsory Retirement - All agricultural extension workers in the plantilla of regular positions shall be granted salary increase corresponding to one (1) salary range or grade higher in his/her basic monthly salary. This shall serve as basis for his/her retirement and Terminal Leave Benefit under existing laws. h) Salary Step Increment for Completion of a Post Graduate Degree - All agricultural extension workers in the plantilla of regular positions shall be entitled to one (1) salary step increase to be integrated into the basic salary, in recognition of his/her efforts towards professional advancement. i) Motor and Vehicle Loan - All AEWs shall be entitled to avail of the motor and vehicle loan of the Department. The National Government shall provide adequate budgetary support for this purpose.

Sec. 12. Professionalization of Extension Services, - The BAEX, in

coordination with the Civil Service Commission, shall develop qualification standards beyond the minimum set by the Civil Service Commission for the various managerial, technical and non-technical positions of the extension services. The BAEx shall also develop a career path of all technical extension personnel that will allow them to move vertically in the promotion system.

Towards this end, the BAEx shall issue guidelines for the creation of a merit promotion boards, to include representatives of civil societies and the agricultural and 3 fishery SUCS.

Sec. 13. Criteria for Incentives and Rewards System. - The BAEx shall

5 develop a reward and incentive system for AEWs under this Act, to encourage them 6 to stay in the service, promote their productivity and reward them for extraordinary 7. performance. The Department shall allocate the budgetary requirement for incentives 8 and rewards.

Sec. 14. Code of Conduct. - All agricultural extension workers shall be guided

by a code of ethics not contrary to law, morals, safety, health, public policy and public 11 order, which shall be prepared by the Secretary in consultation with the recognized national associations of agricultural extension workers:

Sec. 15. The Farmer-to-Farmer Approach. - The farmer-to-farmer

approach in extension is hereby institutionalized. It is a modality of extension where farmers or fisherfolk systematically learn new knowledge or skills from their successful peers to improve the productivity and income of their own enterprises. The BAEX, in cooperation with centers of research excellence and interested LGUs, shall take leadership in developing a highly flexible and innovative system. It shall pilot the approach until it becomes an integral part of the national system in no more than ten (10) years. For the initial implementation of this provision, an initial budget of Twenty million pesos (P20,000,000.00) is hereby allocated for the first year. Every year thereafter the budget shall be adjusted accordingly depending on the needs and response of the LGUs and non-governmental organizations.

Sec. 16. Appropriation. - For the first year of implementation of this Act, the

amount of Ten Billion Pesos (P10,000,000,000.00) shall be appropriated for personal services and operation and capital outlay requirements of the BAEx. It shall be sourced out of the total budget of the Department. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is hereby mandated to include annually in the President's program of expenditures for submission to Congress and release, an amount not less than Ten billion pesos (P10,000,000,000.00) or one percent of the gross value added in agriculture and fisheries, whichever is higher, for the implementation of this Act. Five billion pesos (P5,000,000,000.00) of this amount

shall be allocated to the salaries of extension personnel and operation of the BAEX. 2 The Department is hereby tasked accordingly to rationalize its budget to meet the 3 requirements of this Act. The BAEx is authorized to utilize part of its yearly appropriation to set up or 5 upgrade necessary facilities to improve the delivery of national extension services. All assets and resources, both human and financial, of the ATI shall be transferred to the BAEX. All revenues generated out of the use of services, facilities and equipment shall 9 be utilized by the BAEx to augment its maintenance and operating expenditures.

Sec. 17. Phased Implementation. - The implementation of this Act shall be

11 phased over a period of five (5) years.

Sec. 18. Oversight Committee. - The Congressional Oversight Committee

13 for Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization (COCAFM) shall oversee the 14: implementation of this Act for a period not exceeding five (5) years from its effectivity.

Sec. 19. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within ninety (90) days

from the effectivity of this Act, the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) shall be finalized by the Department in close coordination with the CHED and relevant members of the civil society, which shall include an implementation plan indicating a phased approach to provide smooth transition from the present to the reformed extension system under this Act. The Secretary shall furnish a copy of the IRR to the Committee of Agriculture of both Houses of Congress.

Sec. 20. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared

unconstitutional, the remainder hereof not otherwise affected shall remain in full force and effect.

Sec. 21. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders,

letters of instruction, proclamations, or administrative regulations that are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

Sec. 22. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its

publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. Approved,