Marcos vows to boost agriculture sector amid looming food crisis

MANILA, Philippines — President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reiterated his commitment to prioritize the agriculture sector as the world braces for a looming food crisis caused by the pandemic and the worsening conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Incoming president Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s resolve to prioritize and boost agriculture will be effected through immediate and long-term actions, as governments worldwide brace for a looming food crisis and increasing levels of food insecurity,” press secretary-designate Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a statement yesterday.

Angeles noted that the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Food Program (WFP) were similarly warning of “acute food insecurity” due to overlapping crises.

“The lingering effects of COVID-19, weather extremes, economic shocks, conflict, the rising cost of fuel and energy, public debt burdens and disruptions in supply chain brought about by the war in Ukraine have been identified as factors exacerbating the strain on food security, which has now become a race against time,” said Angeles.

Angeles admitted that addressing the food situation would be a great challenge to Marcos, especially after the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. earlier forecast that the spike in world prices might prompt some countries to limit or ban exporting food and other items to address their domestic needs, as what happened during the 2007 to 2008 food crisis.

“That will be a challenge for the incoming Marcos administration, as we are currently dependent on some food importations, including rice,” Angeles said.

Nonetheless, Angeles said that Marcos and his economic team are now preparing an “immediate response” to address the expected food crisis on top of long-term measures to eventually achieve “food security and food sovereignty.”

“It will require an immediate response, even as president-elect Marcos stresses the long-term solutions should be simultaneously underway,” Angeles said.

“Still, the incoming chief executive stressed, he remains committed to his aspiration to achieve food security and food sovereignty,” Angeles added.

Marcos, during the campaign period, had said that he intends to revitalize the agriculture sector in order to achieve food security and limit the importation of agricultural products that can be grown locally.