What food summits may need to discuss

#MINDANAO

Our inflation levels remain high. The price of food, constituting about a third to half of what makes up our inflation figures, needs to be brought down. To address these concerns, I expect that “food summits” and conferences will be called soon to bring stakeholders together to find solutions to these high prices.

I believe the first thing to do is to get the majority, this means more consumers to these summits. These include community, civic church, and business groups and enterprises such as restaurants and hotels. They may provide perspectives that others may not be aware of, and thus, policies and solutions to lower food prices will be more holistic and beneficial for all Filipinos.

Apart from this, there are recurring challenges that need to be addressed. First is that because of our archipelagic nature, the cost of transporting goods to and from various provinces is a bit higher when compared with countries with one land mass and a single transport vehicle can bring goods from farm to market. In our case, we will need to load and unload ships. Visit the port of Cagayan de Oro in the early evenings to see vegetables bound for the Visayas. This can add time and cost due to additional handling. This is passed on to consumers. The cost of transport needs to be brought down.

The more acute challenges are quite painful. These include intermittent weather and disasters. Throwing away food also harms food production. When a strong typhoon hits, agricultural damage means there will be less of a commodity available, causing prices in the months after to rise.

For these and other reasons, I believe that boosting local food production will be necessary. Since agriculture, is a devolved function under the Local Government Code, the regional offices of the Department of Agriculture will need to boost extension support. This consists of technical advice, and marketing assistance to LGUs and communities to help consolidate producers and their products within provinces and seek markets for excess produce outside the area. This means grouping farmers into larger production units so that inputs can be sourced more cheaply, and products can be produced in larger quantities to supply larger demand.

Moreover, the outputs of the various agriculture research centers within regions will need to be publicized to provide updated knowledge that farms can use. This knowledge is even more vital when we realize how changing climates and natural disasters are affecting production. The knowledge makes the existing farms more competitive.

In addition, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agrarian Reform can collaborate with other food-producing agencies to boost localized food production. The DAR works with agrarian reform beneficiaries to boost their production. The DENR has control over public lands that can also produce food, and can promote agroforestry activities that can also supply food particularly fruits from perennial crops.  

The combined efforts of these three agencies can be amplified further with collaboration from other agencies will help ensure food availability at the local level and make farms more competitive.

Business and civil society groups can work with the government to ensure distribution and sales of the products to a much wider market. This keeps demand for the produce high, ensuring a steady market for the farm.

What this means, in a nutshell, is a two-pronged approach: Building a more resilient food system for producers and consumers and getting more and cheaper food for the majority will require a whole of society effort.