Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. commended the robust climate change action strategies spearheaded by the Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture (AMIA), the flagship program of the Department for climate change. These strategies include the conduct of vulnerability assessments, dissemination of farming and fishing advisories through climate information services, direct assistance to farming communities through AMIA Villages, advocacy, communication, and social mobilization, as well as support for policy formulation and resource generation to facilitate local climate change adaptation and risk management.

In a briefing session with the DA Climate Resilient Agriculture Office (CRAO), Secretary Laurel affirmed his full support of the proposed budget for the AMIA Program for Fiscal Year 2025 under the Mainstreaming Climate Resilient Agriculture in Regional Programs and Project – Locally Funded Project. He also expressed enthusiastic support for the expansion of DA AMIA Villages, which refer to climate-resilient villages serving as go-to places where farmers learn different climate resilient agriculture practices and technologies, helping them avoid, adjust, and recover from the impacts of climate change.

Secretary Laurel said he sees the AMIA Village approach as a viable pathway that all DA programs can take in providing integrated support services, to reduce annual production losses and damages in the sector attributable to climate change, addressing nutritional deficiency and food security. He agrees that to scale up the DA’s climate resilience agriculture (CRA) agenda, climate change considerations should already be integrated in all DA plans, programs, and budgets, thus enhancing farmers’ income, productivity, and adaptive capacity to reduce poverty among the agriculture and fishery communities.

Undersecretary for Special Concerns and for Official Development Assistance Jerome Oliveros, who was also present during the briefing session, echoed Sec. Laurel’s observations and similarly affirmed his support of the initiatives under the program.

The briefing session was led by DA CRAO Director Alicia G. Ilaga together with DA Senior Technical Adviser Perla G. Baltazar. Also present during the activity were Wendy Dunasco, CRAO Planning Officer; Jannelle Talavera, Project Development Officer; and Joy Adarayan, Planning/Communications Officer. ###