Despite the increase in food prices, the release of 13th-month pay to employees will allow millions of Filipino families to indulge in delectable (and expensive) dishes this holiday season. No matter their economic stature, Filipinos will always spend for pricey food items to celebrate Christmas and ring in the New Year. The Yuletide season is usually a time for excess and binging.
But some 14 million Filipinos will not have this luxury. According to the World Hunger Report 2018 from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are 14.2 million undernourished Filipinos and 13.3 million food-insecure Filipinos. This means that nearly a third of the country’s population has no access to enough food. (See “Food waste, postharvest losses where millions remain hungry,” in the BusinessMirror, October 18, 2018).
These figures are lamentable as tons of food items continue to end up in dumpsites. According to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), a Filipino household wastes 1.676 kilograms of rice annually, which translates to a total of 38.507 million kg valued at P1.617 billion. The survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in 2015 revealed that 22.975 million Filipino households threw away 987,952 kilograms of rice daily.
Filipino households also waste hundreds of kilos of vegetables, fish, meat and poultry, aside from rice. Sadly, there is no government agency that is on top of food-waste data collection. The PSA, for one, is focused only on data on rice wasted by Filipino households. The FNRI has yet to update its 2015 nutrition survey, which included data on food waste.
Currently, government efforts to prevent food waste are focused on rice. This is not surprising considering that among all commodities, the data on rice is comprehensive. Given the difficulties confronting the government in ensuring that all 106 million Filipinos have access to food, it makes economic sense for this administration to invest in gathering data on food waste. The food waste survey must not only focus on rice; it must also include other commodities.
Apart from households, the government must also survey food wasted in institutions such as hotels and restaurants. Surveys and data collection have largely focused on food consumed in households. The supply chain must be included to update data on figures related to postharvest losses.
Government efforts aimed at discouraging food waste have been mainly directed at cutting rice waste. This may be due to the lack of data that provides basis for policy-makers to introduce initiatives that will prevent consumers from throwing away food. Some lawmakers like Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, recommended last year the banning of “unli-rice” meals to help ease the tightness in rice supply. Consumers were not receptive to the senator’s recommendation.
A measure that lawmakers can look into in the 18th Congress is the proposed Food Waste Reduction Act. The House Special Committee on Food Security endorsed the substitute bill for plenary approval, but it has yet to be tackled at the lower chamber. The measure seeks to reduce food waste by requiring businesses to take part in food donation and food recycling.
According to one of the authors of the measure, there is no law that specifically tackles combating the increasing amount of food waste in the Philippines. The bill proposes the grant of tax incentives to companies that will donate to food banks and charity homes. We urge lawmakers to consider expanding the coverage of the bill by including incentives or introducing initiatives that will cut postharvest losses.
The Philippines has committed to eliminate hunger by 2030 under the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals. The country will not be able to deliver on this commitment if government will not implement the necessary interventions, such as drastically reducing food waste and altering current farm policies.