Published
By Ellalyn de Vera-Ruiz
Food security and self-sufficiency advocates warned the government over the weekend of a looming food crisis should it fail to bring food to households affected by the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
Agham said the Food Resiliency and Recovery Action Plan (FRRAP) being implemented by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease “seem insufficient and too weak to address problems on the timely delivery and distribution of food supply to provide the needs of consumers.”
FRRAP is the government’s plan of action to ensure food productivity and availability, food accessibility and mobility, and food price stability during the current health crisis.
“We see a gap between food production in the countryside and its distribution to consumers, as manifested in the case of Cordillera farmers opting to sell their harvests at low prices and dumping the excess produce due to insufficient market,” Agham national coordinator Feny Cosico said.
“Meanwhile, consumers are also at the losing end once there is delayed and insufficient food supply, which could in turn result in higher commodity costs,” Cosico added.
The group pointed out that even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the overproduction of agricultural products has long been a pressing problem in the Philippines, often resulting in the wastage of agricultural produce.
“What we are experiencing now are the consequences of the government’s long-term neglect and lack of a comprehensive plan for rural development. It is quite ironic that, given its status as a primarily agricultural country, the Philippines experiences excess supply of food crops while hunger and poverty prevail in rural and urban communities,” Cosico said.
“The structural and policy defects of our local agriculture is greatly felt during this pandemic, where food production does not coincide with food supply needed by communities under lockdown. If this continues, we could rush headlong toward another wave of crisis that would affect not only food producers but also consumers,” Cosico added.
Agham urged the national government to boost the country’s local agriculture by providing assistance to farmers and other agricultural stakeholders to allow them to continue producing food for the country, especially during an emergency.
