The prestigious Rockefeller-funded Food System Vision Prize has recognized the “vision” for the Philippines being able to get rid of P742-billion worth of food imports by 2050, an extensive collaborative work by a team of government and private employees and members of the civic organizations.
A statement showed that the Philippines, led by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), has seized a “special recognition” from the Food System Vision Prize out of 1,300 entries globally.
The country’s entry is an extensive collaborative work between 14 institutions including those from the academe, government, private sector, and civic groups.
In its entry “Feeding Metro Manila in 2050,” the home team foresees that Filipinos will have adapted to a more diversified diet by 2050.
This weans them from a calorie-rich rice-based diet that is linked with several chronic diseases. They will be more accustomed then to eating the richer staples they were used to in the old tradition—banana, sweet potato, and other root crops and tubers.
Food will then be sourced from more affluent farmers who directly deliver to consumers more nutritious food via digital-based distribution system.
“Food imports mainly commodities (rice, corn, onion, mungbean, garlic) can be reduced. A total of P742 billion used for food imports in 2018 and growing 25 percent a year will circulate in the local economy. There will be fewer problems with water and food scarcity, traffic, crime, and pollution,” the experts predicted.
The future food system, according to them, will transform waste into economically valuable resources such as fertilizers or renewable energy.
“The traditional sewage treatment plant will be transformed to a ‘factory’ where domestic waste will be processed to produce recycled water, energy and fertilizers. Consumers will earn from the daily waste they generate,” said Eufemio Rasco of NAST.
Food will be produced with less water, while land will be regenerated into watersheds, forests, and habitat for a richer biodiversity. That's what the future would look like for the Philippines.
The visioning competition was put up by New York-headquartered Rockefeller Foundation and OpenIDEO and SecondMuse.
Its goal is to help economies develop a vision for a sustainable and nourishing diet for their people. It has established a $2 million fund for the winnings.
Rockefeller Foundation is also a major funder of Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIA). International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is located in the Philippines, is one of its centers.