Food for thought

Last Friday – October 16, 2009 – was the United Nations’ World Food Day. For some Filipinos in Pangasinan, Pampanga and other Luzon provinces the day was spent worrying where their next meal would come from. The theme of the 2009 World Day is very appropriate for Philippine circumstances: “Achieving food security in times of crisis”.

In 2000 the United Nations released their Millennium Development Goals (MDG). From their website, “The eight Millennium Development Goals — which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 — form a blueprint agreed by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.” In 2005, The UN Millennium Project released their recommendations for the development of an action plan to achieve the MDGs. We feel strongly that government and non-profit organizations should study the Millennium Development Goals and align their future outreach and development plans around them — especially in the realm of extreme poverty, hunger and education.

To mark World Food Day, the Global Hunger Index was released on October 14 by the International Food Policy Research Institute to track adherence to the MDGs. The Philippines’ index score was 13.2: serious hunger problems are classified by scores between 10 and 19.9. However, with the bad news comes some (very slight) good news. In 1990 our index score was 19. But, according to the report 20.7% of our children are still underweight. Our current poor hunger situation is exacerbated by the quantity of natural disasters we are having and may continue to have in the future.  

Along with infrastructure, we need to turn our attention to food security and sustainable agricultural development. Just like our infrastructure issues, the problems with our food supply are an accumulation of years of neglect. Contributing issues, like the rezoning of agriculture land for development are symptomatic of a more deep-rooted issue in our country: a lack of long-term planning and the will to implement the plans that do exist. We must start planning for the future.

Ensuring that Filipinos have access to food should be a concern of everyone. Beyond the basic humanitarian considerations, there are broader local and national security issues at stake. As United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “Food security is about economic, environmental, and national security for our individual homelands and the entire world.” The concept is simple: people who are hungry, desperate and with little hope of where their next meal will come are more likely to turn to crime.

We currently hold the dubious distinction of being the world’s largest rice importer. This is exceptionally ironic when we consider that we were an integral part in the Green Revolution in the 1960s. It was the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute that sparked the Revolution when it developed a new breed of rice. We hope that the spirit of innovation that existed in the 1960s in the Philippines is still found today, because in terms of food security we have many issues to address. Chief among them is the need to develop new agriculture land throughout the Philippines. This way, when one area of the country is hit by a major calamity, there are other parts of the country where food can be sourced. Another concern is the need to develop a comprehensive plan for rapidly delivering, transporting and distributing food stuffs to disaster hit locations. 

Our goal should be to become agriculturally self-sufficient. We have the land and resources to do so. Multinational organizations are working to solve the global food security problem; next month there will be a World Summit on Food Security in Rome. The Philippines needs to be an active participant in these discussions. Hopefully, by listening and learning from other countries, and contributing to the discussion, domestic and international solutions can be found. As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said: “Food and nutritional security are the foundations of a decent life, a sound education and indeed, the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals.”