The chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs on Monday urged local government units (LGUs) to establish partnerships with small-scale farmers to help prevent food waste amid the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon.
AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin noted that the adverse agricultural impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to plague farmers with tons of spoiled food surplus.
According to Garin, helping farmers will also promote the consumption of nutritious meals among families, while ensuring steady income for farmers during quarantine period.
The lawmaker said Cordillera farmers have been disposing of truckloads of unsold carrots and cabbages due to lack of buyers in the region in the past three weeks.
“Such waste could have been prevented if LGUs have an established link with farms. LGUs in the meantime can help farmers by directly buying the crops and including it in the food packs regularly distributed among their constituents,” she said.
To prevent these from happening again, Garin vowed to push for a measure that can combat the increasing amount of food waste in the country when session resumes in May.
Garin said she already filed House Bill 3370, otherwise known as Food Waste Reduction Act. The bill highlighted the need for a system that will promote, facilitate and ensure the reduction of food waste through redistribution and recycling.
She said incorporated in the proposed measure is a National Food Surplus Scheme wherein the Department of Social Welfare and Development will be in charge of promoting linkages between food banks and LGUs to create a community-based food distribution system for the food insecure.
Image credits: Leonardo Parante II