Gov’t urged to prioritize food security

The government will need to continue to focus on food security and put in place measures, to boost disaster resilience and climate adaptation measures with supply shortages and damage from typhoons posing risks to inflation, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

“To curb rising inflation and protect the purchasing power of consumers, the government is prioritizing food security,” NEDA said in a report.

Headline inflation surged to 7.7 percent in October, the highest in nearly 14 years, driven by faster increases in food prices. This brought the average rate for the January to October period to 5.4 percent.

NEDA said supply deficits are expected in lowland vegetables, pork and fish for this year.

“The local production outlook for lowland vegetables is estimated at 1.7 MMT (million metric tons) for 2022 or only 92 percent of local demand,” NEDA said.

For pork and fish, it said the estimated supply deficit is at 111,000 MT and 319,800 MT, respectively.

As part of efforts to ensure food supply, Executive Order 171 was issued last May, which extended the modified tariffs on rice, pork, corn, and coal until next month.

To boost domestic supply, NEDA said the government would provide support to the agriculture sector in the form of lower input costs, expansion of vegetable gardens, financial support, new farming technologies, and stronger agricultural value chains.

NEDA said there is also a need to improve long-term food security by strengthening food systems against the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Given the damage caused by recent typhoons, NEDA emphasized the need to have long-term interventions to boost disaster resilience and climate adaptation measures, such as reforestation and coordinated flood or water management systems across different local government units.

Based on World Bank estimates, economic damage to the Philippines could reach 3.2 to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product by 2030, and could rise to 5.7 to 13.6 percent by 2040, if climate change is left unaddressed.

“Building the country’s resilience to natural disasters and climate change adaptation is at the top of the administration’s agenda,” NEDA said.

As the recent damage from Typhoon Paeng also highlights the importance of establishing an integrated governance structure for water resource management, NEDA also said the proposed Department of Water Resources would put in place integrated policies on the use and supply of water resources and the mitigation of risks from water-induced disasters.