Task force on food security created

MANILA, Philippines — The Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has created a Task Group on Food Security amid the threat of hunger due to the enhanced community quarantine.

Chaired by the Department of Agriculture, the TGFS aims to ensure continuous supply of quality, nutritious and affordable food particularly for residents of Metro Manila and other urban centers nationwide.

“Ensuring food security should be at the forefront of our priorities along with ensuring the safety and health of our people. We stand by our conviction that the threat of hunger is as real as the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said.

The IATF recently approved the resolution creating the task group to ensure food and water security, including shelter and energy, during the pandemic.

It revised an earlier IATF resolution on food security sub-group under the technical group on resource management of the national task force to provide regular updates in food production and manufacturing.

“Guided by the whole-of-nation approach, the TGFS will work toward easing uncertainties of our countrymen on the supply and movement of food from farm to table,” Dar said.

To date, the IATF has five major task groups on anticipatory and forward planning, response operations, resource management and logistics, strategic communications, and food security.

Apart from the DA, members of the task group on food security include the departments of Trade and Industry, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development, Budget and Management, Education, Science and Technology, and the National Economic and Development Authority.