Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Senator seeks food production campaign
MANILA -- Senator Loren Legarda called upon the National Government to conduct a full-fledged national food production campaign with the help of the local government units (LGUs) in the face of a global food shortage.
Legarda, chairperson of the Senate economic affairs committee, reacted with alarm to reports that there could be a chain-reaction of soaring prices for all basic food commodities like bread, meat, poultry and vegetables because of a global food shortage, exemplified by the crisis in rice supplies.
She said: "We cannot abandon more than 80 million Filipinos to the prospect of virtual starvation through inaction. Our government leaders should take positive measures to respond to what is clearly an emergency situation."
"This is a situation where we cannot afford a failure of leadership," she declared.
The lawmaker called upon governors, mayors, councilors and barangay officials to encourage families to cultivate family plots for root crops and vegetables and raise poultry, swine or even cattle in order to supplement their food resources.
She also asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to revive the program of requiring elementary school pupils and high school students to cultivate garden plots in the schoolyard and learn poultry-raising and animal husbandry. "This will provide them with the skills to engage in profitable food production in their adult years," she said.
Legarda decried that even under normal times, Filipinos have suffered from a deficiency in food intake. The 2000 Family Income and Expenditures Survey in the Philippines found that between 1997 and 2000 the poverty level actually rose to 33.7 percent, she said.
The report added that more than 20 percent of the population (or over 15 million people) is considered undernourished, and close to a one-third of Filipino children aged below five years old are moderately or severely underweight. These statistics are thought to be much worse in rural areas of the Philippines.
Legarda said the food shortage should be a "wake-up" call for government to reexamine its priorities in food production, particularly agriculture. "Should we persist in the national policy of export orientation and import dependence or should we strive for self-sufficiency in food production?" she asked.
"Obviously we should give priority to food self-sufficiency, for an undernourished individual cannot contribute positively to national growth. If we must attain a strong Republic we must have a population with well-nourished and strong bodies that harbor intelligent, creative and independent minds," she asserted.
She added that the Philippines would be more economically progressive if it becomes self-sufficient in food production and is even able to export food to less endowed countries. (Sunnex) |
