IN A bid to enhance agricultural and fisheries programs, the City Agricultural and Fishery Council (CAFC) is institutionalized as an advisory body of the city government through Executive Order No. 16, Series of 2025.
Acting Mayor Sebastian Duterte signed the executive order on Sept. 23, aiming to secure sectoral representation in agricultural policy-making bodies.
“The City Government of Davao gives highest priority to agricultural development to achieve an equitable distribution of benefits and opportunities and to enable farmers, fishermen, and the rural population to maximize their contribution to the local economy,” the EO reads.
The CAFC will serve as a consultative and advisory body of the city government’s agricultural and fishery sectors, to ensure projects are aligned toward higher productivity and increased income.
It will also serve as a consultative, integrative, coordinative, and monitoring body for regional and local agricultural and fishery value and supply chain initiatives.
The EO provides that CAFC will be a regular member of the Local Development Council of the city, the policy-making body tasked with preparing and approving the city’s development plans.
“To ensure representation in the Local Development Council created under Republic Act No. 7160 and Executive Order No. 50, Series of 2019, the CAFC shall be included as a regular member of the Davao City Development Council (CDC), with the CAFC Chairman or representative hereby recognized as a regular member thereof,” Section 2 of the EO reads.
The EO also secures private sector participation in agricultural and fishery development.
The CAFC shall be composed of an Executive Committee—with its Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Treasurer, and Auditor coming from the private sector, and a government representative acting as co-chairperson—and Sectoral Committees organized according to identified agri-fishery sectors.
Each Sectoral Committee is required to have representatives from city-wide organizations, youth groups, women’s organizations, and district-level councils, which will also serve as spokespersons of their respective sectors in the CAFC.
The EO also provides for the creation of Barangay Agricultural and Fishery Councils (BAFCs) in all coastal and upland barangays, as well as District or Municipal Agricultural and Fishery Councils to ensure participation at the grassroots level.
The City Agriculturist Office (CAO) shall provide the secretariat support of the CAFC and coordinate with the implementation of its policies and mandate.
For its ensured implementation, the funding for the council will be sourced from the city’s annual general appropriation under CAO annual budget.
