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Farmers present ways to ensure food security in PH

Philippines | National

Farmers present ways to ensure food security in PH

By Charie Mae F. Abarca

There are various ways to resolve the "worsening" food crisis in the Philippines.

(Manila Bulletin File Photo)

For peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) the national government should intentionally adopt policies to address the “worsening” food crisis and hunger problem in the country.

“The Philippines ranks second among ASEAN countries with the number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet. This is unacceptable for an agricultural country like ours,” said peasant leader Rafael Mariano on Friday, Oct. 14.

In order to resolve this, KMP, in a media forum held ahead of the celebration of World Food Day, laid out their suggestions to help address the problems faced by the Philippines surrounding local food production.

These suggestions were divided into the following key points: Expansion of areas for rice production; implementation of “accelerated irrigation development” and expansion of free irrigation systems across the country; provision of P15,000 production subsidy to farmers; as well as the enactment of “competitive” farm gate prices.

The peasant group then reiterated that the country’s problems will not be solved by strengthening importation and agricultural trade, adding that the key to a food self-sufficient country is only achieved by means of empowering local farmers.

“The hunger figures are staggering, and we cannot just watch these numbers go up,” Mariano added.

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