DA TO CRAFT 5-YEAR FOOD SECURITY ACT
Local Government Units are urged to submit municipal food security plan to form a national food security strategy.
Agriculture secretary Emmanuel Piñol said that they will create a five-year National Food Security Act to maximize agricultural production in the country.
This was bared by Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Emmanuel Piñol during the Municipal and City Food Security Summit, Mindanao Cluster.
He also challenged the Local Chief Executives (LCEs) to maximize the food production potential of their community.
He encourages all the LCEs to submit their municipal Food Security Plan including the interventions needed as it will be consolidated to form a national food security plan, which will be submitted to congress to form a 5-year National Food Security Act. The act, he said, will be implemented in five years no matter the administration is changed or not.
Piñol said that the country has 7 percent deficit in rice production especially that calamities that every now and then hit major rice production areas in Luzon, which resulted to increase of rice supply deficit. This he said is the reason why the country still needs to import rice from the world market.
He said that the purpose of the Food security summit is to reignite the partnership between DA and local government units to work together in making the country food self-sufficient.
“We can produce more food. Kailangan lang natin ang tulong ng LGUs, you only need the support from DA para ang inyong bayan can produce more food for the country. And after that we will link you up to the market,” Piñol said adding that Philippines do not lack food since there are still unutilized potential areas for agricultural production.
He also presented the innovations to help the LCEs and farmers increase their production and income. These innovations include the Farmers Guide Map which can be accessed online wherein commodities suited for each area are specified. He added that in just a click, the farmers will be informed what kind of agricultural crops suitable to their soil condition. All the areas in the town are colour coded per commodity. /
“We are providing you the modern, scientific and fast technologies that can help you implement your food security plan, all you need to do is just tell us what more you need.”
EMMANUEL PIÑOL
Agriculture secretary