Addressing Emerging Food Crisis

Rising food prices are pushing more Filipinos into hunger and poverty. Making ends meet becomes more difficult for the poor especially for housewives.  With limited budget, they resort to smaller food intake and low-quality food. To address the impending crisis, the following points are recommended.

• More must be invested on agriculture. Most Filipinos still live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and income that is why investment in agriculture is viable. An area that needs critical attention is boosting agricultural productivity to make rice self-sufficiency possible.
• Citizens must closely guard agriculture spending. Agriculture funds have been massively misappropriated. Huge sums have been spent on agriculture but productivity did not improve as large amount of money went into the pockets of bureaucrats and contractors. These anomalies must be brought out in the open and future transactions must be watched closely.
• The government must intervene effectively. Reforms that support increasing rice output must be set in place by the government. These include but are not limited to process, financial, and technological support.
• Farmers must have direct access to consumers. This can be done by addressing trade and import policies. Reducing the number of middlemen may reduce the retail price of rice relative to the farm price. In addition, increased rice volume bought by the National Food Authority at competitive prices will motivate farmers to plant rice.
• Sustainable innovations must address climate change. Climate conditions greatly affect food production. Hence, sustainable measures must be set to mitigate adverse effects of climate change.
• Farmers must shift to sustainable agricultural methods. Commercial-industrial technologies being used today have resulted to adverse environmental consequences. By promoting ecological farming methods and experimentation, small-scale farmers can further increase their production.

Source:

Regalado, Aurora, Hazel Tanchuling, Jessica Reyes-Cantos, “Addressing Emerging Food Crisis.” Philippine Daily Inquirer, 3 April 2011, p. A19.