Agricultural Land Management and Evaluation Division

SEMLUR Website

https://sites.google.com/bswm.da.gov.ph/almed-semlur/about-semlur

The Agricultural Land Management and Evaluation Division (ALMED) created under EO No. 18 on Sept. 01, 1985 during the national government reorganization. Currently, ALMED is the lead division in the survey and delineation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ) within the Network of Protected Areas for Agriculture and Agro-Industrial Development (NPAAAD) required of local governments under the Republic Act 8435 also known as the Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (AFMA). ALMED is also the home of the National Technical Committee on Land Use Matters (NTECLUM) Secretariat. The major issue we want to highlight in this Rationalization Plan is the years of expertise developed by this Division in agricultural land evaluation.

Land use planning ensures the use of land resources in an organised fashion so that the needs of the present and future generations can be best addressed. The basic purpose of land use planning is to ensure that each area of land will be used so as to provide maximum social benefit, especially for food, fiber, and energy production without degradation of the land resource.

The increase of land degradation shows the need for more lands to be used for the purposes for which they were well suited. The delineation of SAFDZ’s as a national policy as enunciated in AFMA were the results of the natural resources evaluation, but an equally important component in SAFDZ planning provides for the participation of the communities in the planning process.

We propose the expansion of ALMED activities to focus not only on agricultural land evaluation but to strengthen the management component in its nomenclature by including development and rehabilitation of degraded areas in the lowlands and ensure continuing productivity of our prime agricultural lands. Degraded uplands will remain the domain of Soil Conservation & Management Division. This means that ALMED will absorb management and development issues such as those relating to problem soils (such as soil salinity and sodicity), land degradation, and fertility decline as they impact coastal areas, rice fields, and major agricultural areas with less than 18 percent slopes.

Mandate

To formulate and adopt national agricultural land use planning framework to guide policy makers and local government units on appropriate land use allocation and land development through applications of sustainable agricultural land management principles and thereby ensure a secure and sustainable production base

Mission

To evaluate land resources for best land use option and guide the country’s policy makers on areas of high potential agricultural value for agricultural zoning and development purposes

Vision

Enhanced productivity and maintained fertility of prime agricultural land resources through holistic agricultural land evaluation, management and development

Functions

Formulate standard guidelines for the inventory and evaluation of development potentials of agricultural lands
Identify, integrate and evaluate technical data on socio-economic, environmental and physical land aspects for land use decisions needed in the formulation of rural development programs
Prepare and maintain a nationwide index map showing land distribution of location of physical land resources that are indicative of agricultural areas with comparative land use potentials
Provide technical services to, and establish linkages with line agencies and other clients and institutions involved in integrated rural development planning
Recommend rural development strategies that are consistent with the productive capacity of the available land resources in an area