Despite agricultural problems: Phl trusts it can address food challenge

CEBU, Philippines -  Once revolutionized, the Philippine food system could address the challenge to feed 155 million Filipinos by 2050 and could also tap the Asian food market given the right cards to play.

This is according to Lourdes Adriano of the Rural Development and Food Security Unit at the Regional and Sustainable Development Department during a business forum.

It was projected that the present 107 million population of the country will  increase to 155 million in 2050.

Adriano said that the robust demand for food could not be addressed fully with the weak food supply system that is badly affected by low agriculture growth and shrinking share to Gross Domestic Product, poor productivity indices, resource constraints and climate change.

“There’s a lot of catching up to do for the Philippines,” she said.

She added that the Philippines has a poor productivity score card at only 0.2% per year compared with its neighboring countries  such as Thailand at 1%, Indonesia at 1.5% and China at 4.7% from 1990 to 2010.

Although the country has good crops to sell, eroded soil quality, poor water efficiency and climate change contribute to low productivity in the agriculture sector.

Even with the challenges present in agriculture, Adriano expressed optimism that the country will be able to address the food challenge at present and in the future with the strong domestic demand growing by 7.2% in 2010-2011.

“Yes, we can feed 155 million Filipinos by 2050 and be damn good at it,” she added.

Philippines can produce at least cost and less protection bananas, broilers, coconuts, mangoes, milkfish, pineapples, and sugarcane.

She further noted that the country can also tap Asia’s booming market that account for half of the global output.

It was projected that Asia will be an influential force in the global economy by 2050, capturing 50% of global output, 66% of global growth and triple its GDP from 2010 to 2050.

To accomplish such, she recommended a “not a business-as-usual approach” that entails to reinvest in farming, food systems, agriculture, food manufacturing, science and technology for sustainability, promote food diet change, redesign rural and urban landscapes, and build partnerships with public, private and civil societies.

She also cited that the country could take advantage of its variety of agriculture and food products, fruits such as bananas, dried tropical fruits, mangoes, pineapples, and coconuts but not in milled rice.

She added that investment opportunities in the post-farm level could also be taken into consideration given that food and beverages dominate manufacturing as it continues to post steady growth of 4% for the past three years.

Adriano noted that with the arrival of the new information and communications technology for agriculture and rural development, mobile devices have increased efficiency in small-scale agriculture, increase yields and improve returns to farmers.

She also advised enabling policy opportunities from the government, reforms in education system, rural infrastructure and education of the young generation on nutritious and low-cost food.

She cited the rubanisation concept of Professor TayKheng Soon from Singapore as a new model for new ecological countryside development that could also be useful in the Philippines.

To address the growing demand projected in the future, Adriano further suggested synergy between peri-urban and urban food systems, rooftop farming and planting on empty lots for stability and resilience of food supply. (FREEMAN)