Press Release
September 11, 2009

Mindful of the significance of the country's natural resources and potentials for renewable energy
ANGARA URGES SENATE TO LEGISLATE AGROFORESTRY
 AS FIELD OF STUDY

Sen. Edgardo J. Angara is reiterating his calls for the standardization and enhancement of the practice of agro-forestry in the country and to create the Board of Agroforestry under the Professional Regulations Commission. This he stressed after the success of the first ever International Renewable Energy and Agriculture Conference (REACCT 2009) last week that he jointly hosted with the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), of which he is also the Chairman.

"The Philippine Agroforestry Act of 2007 has been pending in the Senate and it's about time to professionalize the field of agroforestry in the country, as such it is a tool towards sustainable socio-economic development and environmental protection, especially now that we are pursuing renewable energy through our agricultural resources."

The increasing population has put more pressure on the country's natural resources. With the twin demands of the environment and the people comes to fore the recognition of agroforestry as the key to resource rehabilitation, sustainable development and preservation of these natural resources. The Philippines is one of the first to practice agroforestry. For a country with an estimated 20 million (roughly 24%) of its population living in the uplands, the magnitude of the practice of agroforestry cannot be overstressed. As a land-use management system, agroforestry is new market opportunities, new business investments, sustainable agricultures, land stewardship, habitat for wildlife, improved water quality, and diversified farm income.

"Despite its irrefutable importance in the country's drive for sustainable agricultural development, agroforestry faces a challenge in integrating itself as a professional field of endeavor in the country's policies. To address the increasing demand for field technicians equipped with the needed agroforestry knowledge and skills, this unique field, which is neither Agriculture nor Forestry demand its recognition as a new and separate occupational cluster of study," noted Angara, former Agriculture Secretary.

In particular, agroforestry practices help landowners to diversify products, markets, and farm income; improve soil and water quality; reduce erosion, non-point source pollution and damage due to flooding; enhance land and aquatic habitats for fish and wildlife; and improve biodiversity while sustaining land resources for generations to come. In addition, agroforesty as a field of profession would aid in the pursuit of new technologies necessary for harnessing the country's natural resources into yielding sustainable, alternative renewable energy source.

Although considered as the main production technology in implementating the Community-Based Forest Management Program and is one of the fields of agriculture and fisheries modeled in the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) that Sen. Angara authored in 1997, there is lack of a governing body to assess, evaluate, standardize, and enhance the Agroforestry curriculum.

Angara envisions that this bill would establish the distinct role of agroforestry as a science and as a profession in providing the farm households with stable and ready source of sufficient food to reduce the upland farmers' food insecurity. He noted, "After all, agroforestry is an essential part of the effort to feed the people in our uplands by allowing the production of 'more food on less land and less labor.'"

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