EDITORIAL - No Food Day

World Food Day was marked yesterday as thousands of people displaced by recent mudslides and flooding in Luzon worried about where to get their next meal and clean drinking water. Many traditional foreign donors have been forced to cut back on their aid since last year as the global economy went on a downward spiral. With economic recovery expected only in mid-2010 at the earliest, foreign aid will remain tight as the Philippines tries to cope with natural disasters.

The flooding and mudslides are not only increasing the ranks of the hungry and malnourished but also threatening the nation’s food security as key agricultural regions are among the hardest hit by the flooding. Vegetable prices shot up after Baguio was isolated by mudslides. Though prices have softened after the city and La Trinidad Valley became accessible again to delivery vehicles, crops have been destroyed and vegetable prices are likely to remain high for some time.

In flooded areas, residents are having trouble cooking food properly or even boiling water for drinking. Around Laguna de Bay, residents have reported the emergence of a skin ailment linked to a disease in fish. The flood has aggravated pollution, posing risks to the quality of fish from the lake.

Even without the floods, aid agencies already had ongoing programs to ease hunger in the country’s conflict areas, particularly in Mindanao. The local chapter of the United Nations World Food Program sponsors food-for-work and food-for-training programs for internally displaced people as well as school meals and maternal and child nutrition projects. Flooding in Luzon will swell the ranks of the hungry and malnourished.

This year, for the first time ever, the number of the world’s hungry passed one billion, according to the WFP. With nearly one out of every six people in the world suffering from involuntary hunger, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said World Food Day “is actually No Food Day.” That’s food for thought as the Philippines struggles to cope with growing food insecurity amid natural disasters.