economy have markets where goods and services are bought and sold. If people want to have locally grown food and a strong local agricultural economy, then they can patronize local farms and buy local goods to achieve those ends. However, rural amenities are not what we consider market goods—they are not bought and sold. Therefore, to ensure that the agricultural lands are being preserved, some type of policy may be needed. Agricultural land conversions and reversals take place due to the absence of a coherent and comprehensive national land use policy and enabling law. Such a policy, if enacted into a law, would naturally be intended to secure prime agricultural land areas, together with the haphazard land conversions that move farming communities …show more content…
Given that these sectors oftentimes have conflicting interests, for example they compete for a limited supply of land, among other resources, as well as differing views on current land use policies, the sector-specific laws do not address cross-cutting land use issues that usually crop up during policy implementation. Land use policies affecting food security and rice self-sufficiency are those involving the conversion and reclassification of agricultural lands to non-agricultural use such as residential, commercial and industrial. Under RA 8435 or the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) of 1997, food security is being promoted, including sufficiency in staple food, particularly rice. In terms of land use, AFMA provides for the protection or non-conversion of all irrigated or irrigable agricultural lands, 2 at least, among the network of protected areas for agricultural and agro-industrial development (NPAAAD) that was supposed to be identified by the Department of Agriculture (DA) (SEPO, 2013). However, the non-conversion of the irrigated and irrigable lands was only limited for a period of five years from the effectivity of AFMA. In addition, the said law does not …show more content…
Aside from the policies that would restrict built-up or urban areas from encroaching in protected areas, policies affecting land use on housing and urban development are generally provided by RA 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992. Under the UDHA, it is government’s policy to “uplift the conditions of the underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban areas and in resettlement areas by making available to them decent housing at affordable cost, basic services, and employment opportunities” (SEPO, 2013). Unfortunately, UDHA only exempted agrarian reform lands and did not specifically exclude from its coverage the lands that were protected under AFMA, for instance, irrigated and irrigable