THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is working with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in conducting a "food consumption quantification survey" to ensure food security in the next 50 years.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said this is to determine what kind of food Filipinos would like to eat and identify where to source it.
FAO, who will lead the study, is an organization geared towards eradicating hunger, ensuring food insecurity, fight malnutrition to totally eliminate poverty and promote sustainable management and utilization of natural resources.
“The country has a total land area of about 30 million hectares and it will never expand. It will never grow while our population continues to grow at about 2.9 percent per annum,” Piñol said.
He added the study is necessary as many projections showed that time will come the land and sea resources will not be able to feed the total population in a traditional manner.
The study, he said, would also determine the alternative food, which would best suit the public’s taste.
Piñol added that the move is pursuant to President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive which is to provide affordable and available food to all.