Press Release
January 30, 2013

SENATE PASSES AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES
MECHANIZATION BILL ON 3RD READING

The Senate on Monday passed an act promoting the agricultural and fisheries mechanization development in the country. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, believes this will help the country continue its upward swing, as the bill is set to boost the modernization of the long-neglected agriculture and fisheries sector.

"As we forge ahead in sustaining the country's positive economic outlook, bills such as the mechanization of the agriculture and fisheries sector become imperatives as long-term, sustainable economic structures. We've always said that the key to the Philippines' economic boom lies within the agriculture and fisheries sector, and the passing of this bill will help immensely in improving the condition of the labor force employed by these languishing sectors."

Pangilinan says that the Philippines is currently languishing at the bottom list of rice-producing countries in Asia in terms of agricultural mechanization, barely edging out Myanmar, which is the least mechanized in the region.

"The country only has 12,000 agricultural tractors. Compare that to Japan, who is the most mechanized country in Asia and has 2 million tractors. This is a very wide gap. The data is glaring and we need to address this issue immediately."

"The government must prioritize addressing the needs of our people in the countryside if we are to move forward as a developing nation in Asia. It's no secret that the country's poorest of the poor can be found in the countryside, where agriculture and fisheries are the main source of livelihood. Improving and modernizing these sectors will empower our people in the countryside. If we are to pull ahead, we must pull ahead as a nation, leaving no man behind."

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