Agri growth, resilience help Phl combat hunger

MANILA, Philippines - The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recently lauded the Philippines for its outstanding efforts in combating hunger, making it one of the 13 countries that have now met the international targets – ahead of deadline – for the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG-1), which is to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015.

The Philippines has reached the MDG-1 hunger target for decreasing the prevalence of undernourishment from 26.3 percent in 1990-92, to 11.5 percent in 2012–14. Over the same period, the number of undernourished has declined from 16.7 million to 11.3 million.

On behalf of the Philippine government, Agriculture  undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo Serrano and Philippine Embassy in Rome Charge d’ affaires Leila Lora-Santos received the award from FAO director-general José Graziano da Silva in a ceremony at the FAO headquarters in Rome last Nov.  30, 2014.

DA Secretary Proceso Alcala  welcomed the international recognition, noting that it is a triumphant feat of the agency as it reflects how the Philippine agriculture sector has grown and remained resilient to guarantee that MDG-1 would be met by 2015.

The Department of Agriculture, however, Alcala said,  recognizes that much remains to be accomplished to significantly reduce or completely eradicate hunger in the country.

“With our proactive policies and programs, we have enjoyed steady growth in agriculture for the past three years, hence ensuring that more food is produced and made available to Filipinos, especially the poor,” Alcala said.

Alcala said at the end of 2013, the country had the highest rice harvest in history at 18.4 million metric tons. The Philippine Statistics Authority meanwhile reported that the Philippine agriculture sector  managed to grow by 9.55 percent in terms of value and by 0.33 percent in terms of volume for the first nine months of the year, all despite considerable damage caused by successive typhoons to the sector.

“But these accomplishments are just gaining momentum. With good policies and programs in place, plus the enabling governance environment we have created, we can be sure that our achievements in contributing to food security and hunger eradication will be sustained even after 2016,” Alcala said.

Alcala mentioned programs such as the six-year Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP), and the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP) and the High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) under the Agri-Pinoy framework, among others, as key ingredients to ensure that food sufficiency will be dramatically improved over the next 10 years.

Alcala added that while the country was only able to meet 96-percent rice sufficiency in 2013 – against the 100-percent target – because of natural calamities and still-insufficient irrigation systems, increased production of other staples and high-value crops compensated the four-percent shortfall.

To address the hindrances on achieving food self-sufficiency, the DA has mainstreamed climate resilience in its programs, such as the introduction of flood-, drought- and salt-resistant varieties of rice and the construction of climate-resistant agricultural infrastructure like irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads. It has also launched a massive campaign on responsible rice consumption, owing to the fact that Filipinos waste considerable amounts of rice at P8.4 billion worth of wastage in a year.

“Climate change adaptation is one of our priority concerns in programming considering the vulnerability of the Philippines to the effects of climate change as shown in the Global Climate Risk Index recently unveiled at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Lima, Peru. Our production could have been poorer had we not been keen on mainstreaming climate resilience in our policies and programs,” Alcala explained.

To complement national programs on achieving food security with support from the grassroots, the DA has also encouraged the formation and empowerment of farmers’ and fishers’ organizations, according to Alcala.

The efforts in 2014 have been more aggressive in observance of the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF), a global advocacy on raising the profile of family farming, giving world focus on its indispensable role in eradicating poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihood, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development.

Undersecretary Serrano highlighted in his acceptance speech in Rome that at the Global Closing Event of IYFF held in the Philippines, governments and civil society organizations endorsed the Legacy Document that would ensure the continuity of the IYFF objectives and activities beyond 2014, adding that the sustained participation of stakeholders is crucial to achieving and sustaining inclusive food and nutritional security – the most basic platform for human and social development.

“We recognize that our work on food security requires the participation and support of all stakeholders, especially farmers and fishers themselves. As we appreciate and harness their involvement, we can be assured that our agricultural production growth is sustained, hence, increasing our capacity to combat hunger,” Alcala said.

Other countries that have reached MDG-1 targets are Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Iran, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico and Uruguay.