The Department of Agriculture (DA) urged local government units (LGUs) to craft their own food security plans following a rice crisis that gripped Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he would hold a food security forum with all the country’s town mayors in October. The forum would have the theme, “Mamamayan ko, Pakakainin ko.”
“The Municipal Food Security plan will indicate each town’s population, the food consumption and the capability to produce the food requirement of their people. [These] will be submitted to the DA during a series of forum in four areas next month,” Piñol said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
The DA would divide the mayors into four clusters to facilitate easier dialogue: Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
The food security plans of the LGUs would include the following: topographical and geographical map of the town; total population and land area; existing and potential production areas for rice, corn vegetables, poultry and livestock; food sufficiency levels.
It would also identify the interventions required to achieve food sufficiency in their towns and possible sources of food supply if the areas are not suitable for and capable of farm production.
“The Municipal Food Security Plan will clearly indicate whether a town is capable of feeding its own people and what it needs to produce food, like how many kilometers of farm to market roads, where are the potential sources of water and post-harvest facilities,” Piñol said.
“The food security plan of each town will be collated and included in a national food security plan which will be submitted to President Duterte,” he added.
Piñol said the national food security plan would serve as the basis of programs and expenditures of the national government “to ensure that there will be enough food for all.”
Bukidnon veggies
The DA said it is rolling out P200 million worth of interventions to develop 50,000 hectares for vegetable production in Bukidnon.
“The DA will officially open tomorrow [Friday] the country’s new ‘vegetable bowl’ as it delivers an estimated P200 million in credit and production support and assistance to farmers in the mountain towns of Bukidnon province in Northern Mindanao,” Piñol said in a Facebook post.
He said the four towns of Talakag, Lantapan, Impasugong and Sumilao in Bukidnon have a potential area of 50,000 hectares that are suitable for vegetable production.
At present, Piñol said only 6,000 hectares are planted with vegetables as farmers are experiencing difficulties in accessing credit and markets for their produce.
Among the interventions that the DA will implement in the area are:
Provision of P150 million in loans under the DA’s Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) Program to vegetable farmers at 6-percent annual interest without requiring collateral;
Giving farmers in hilly areas four units of farm tractors and 15 working animals; and
Make available two refrigerated containers to be used in transporting the vegetables to Metro Manila.
Piñol said the DA would also open a vegetable trading and packing center in a 1-hectare area, owned by the Talakag local government unit on Friday.
“Harbest Seeds President Arsenio Toto Barcelona will also establish a demonstration farm which will teach farmers how to use modern farming technology,” he said.