Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has expressed willingness to work with Congress on the swift passage of Senate Bill 1837, filed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay, which seeks to extend the use of the Agriculture Fund (Acef) until 2015.

Magsaysay, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, also sought the conversion of the Acef into a revolving fund to be placed in the charge of the Department of Agriculture to reduce government red tape in its disbursement to DA-approved projects, which are seasonal and subject to price fluctuations.

The original Acef, amounting to P5.11 billion, was placed as Special Account 183 in the general fund in the National Treasury, which has to get the approval of the Department of Budget and Management before it can release the funds.

"The DA has approved 56 projects worth P2.35 billion, of which the DBM has released 93.2 percent, or P2.19 billion. Of the latter amount, the DA has disbursed 77.2 percent, or P1.69 billion, to project proponents. The remaining unallocated Acef for future projects amounts to P2.76 billion," Yap said in a recent news conference.

The fund was established in April 1996 under Republic Act (RA) 8178 to help local farmers threatened by trade liberalization. It is sourced from in-quota tariffs on importation through the minimum access volumes collected by the Bureau of Customs and the Sugar Regulatory Administration. The nine-year law expires in March next year, when the remaining balance in the fund shall revert to the general fund.

Section 112 of RA 8545 identifies the Acef as the funding source of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, and Section 114-117 of the same law provides for the involvement of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization in project approval and policy directions of the Acef. The fund operates subject to then-Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara's Administrative Order (AO) 39 (issued 1999), as amended by AO 10 (2000), or Revised Implementing Guidelines on the Utilization of the Acef.

The zero-interest, zero-collateral Acef assists existing agricultural businesses with a track record of at least three years, which must course their loan proposals through DA regional technical secretariats and technical committee composed of the agriculture secretary, the agriculture committee chairmen of the House and the Senate, and private sector representatives.

"For this year alone, the DA has approved P^50 million worth of projects, but the DBM has placed a P638-million cap on disbursement, with a balance of P12.69 million," Yap noted.

To date, only 49 of the 56 approved Acef projects, worth a total of P1.75 billion, have been provided budget releases of P1.59 billion. Awaiting their turn are three new projects endorsed by the DA to the budget department and four more pending endorsement.

Of the 56 DA-approved projects, 28 are in Luzon, 14 in the Visayas, 13 in Mindanao and one is national in scope. According to the DA, the Acef has a collection efficiency of 76 percent with actual collections amounting to P18.5 million as of June.