The Department of Agriculture (abbreviated as DA; Filipino: Kagawaran ng Pagsasaka) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the promotion of agricultural and fisheries development and growth.[3] It has its headquarters at Elliptical Road corner Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.
The first Filipino to head the Bureau of Agriculture was Adriano Hernández, himself a practicing farmer.[4]
The Bureau of Agriculture grew rapidly until it was abolished by the enactment of Act No. 2666, otherwise known as An Act to Re-organize the Executive Department of the Government of the Philippine Islands, on November 18, 1916, and was implemented on January 1, 1917. This act provided for the establishment of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR), which would take over direct executive control, direction, and supervision of the Bureaus of Agriculture, Forestry, Lands, Science, and Weather, as well as all matters concerning hunting, fisheries, sponges and other sea products, and such others as may be assigned to it by law.
By virtue of another reorganization (as per Act No. 4007[5]) in 1932, the DANR became the Department of Agriculture and Commerce. The Bureau of Commerce, which used to be under the Department of Commerce and Communication, was placed under the reorganized department.
In 1942, while the Commonwealth government was in exile, the department was re-organized again, becoming the Department of Finance, Agriculture and Commerce. Upon the resumption of the commonwealth in February 1945, it became the Department of Justice, Agriculture and Commerce, and then back to being the Department of Agriculture and Commerce in December the same year.
Post-independence
In 1947, the agriculture department was renamed again as the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources by virtue of Executive Order No. 94.[6] The Bureau of Commerce, among others, was incorporated to the newly created Department of Commerce and Industry.
On September 14, 1959, the DANR moved to its current building in Diliman, Quezon City from the Agrifina Circle (now the Teodoro Valencia Circle) in Manila.
By virtue of Presidential Decree No. 461,[7] the DANR was split in May 1974 into two departments: the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources (now the DENR).
After the shift to the parliamentary system in 1978, all departments were changed to ministries. Thus, the office became the Ministry of Agriculture and Food until 1987, when the office’s name was reverted to the Department of Agriculture by Executive Order No. 116.[8]
The same executive order mandated the DA to promote agricultural development by providing the policy framework, public investment, and support services, which are needed for domestic and export-oriented business enterprises. Guided by the principle that agriculture is business, the DA implemented policy and institutional reforms that freed the agriculture markets, enabling farmers to enjoy higher farmgate prices. These reforms included the dismantling of agricultural monopolies and the elimination of agricultural taxes. Reforms of the agricultural credit system, such as the phase-out of the direct lending scheme, were also initiated.
On January 25, 2024, Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. designated former National Food Authority official Roger Navarro as DA undersecretary for operations, as acting undersecretary for rice industry development, replacing Leocadio Sebastian. Navarro was also named officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Office of the National Project Director, Philippine Rural Development Project and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Operations. Tiu Laurel Jr. appointed Arnel de Mesa as the full-time spokesman for the DA, promoted his chief of staff, John Alvin F. Balagbag, as undersecretary and lawyer Roland Tulay as OIC of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Office of the Undersecretary for Administration. Also appointed were DA’s representatives to the technical working group drafting the implementing rules and regulations of The Internet Transactions Act of 2023 Director IV Honorio Flameno Ph. D. and Information Technology Officer III Xerxees Remorozo.[11][12]
^"Executive Order No. 165, s. 2014". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
^Herrera, Christine F. (May 19, 2014). "Alcala loses Agri control". Manila Standard Today. Archived from the original on September 1, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.