The links that feed a nation

Pinggang Pinoy is a healthy plate. A cup of rice with a piece of grilled bangus alongside a generous serving of pinakbet, a bowl of monggo with malunggay and a banana to finish. Mostly vegetables and fruit, with just enough rice, fish and beans.

Many hands from Luzon to Mindanao brought that plate to the table. A woman farmer in Isabela grew the rice. A fisher in Pangasinan raised the bangus. A vegetable farmer in Ilocos picked the squash and eggplant, while an Indigenous Peoples’ cooperative in Mindanao packed the bananas. A driver crossed a mountain road, and a vendor opened her stall before dawn. A school cook in Maguindanao turned it all into a warm meal for schoolchildren.

This World Food Day (Oct. 16), we honor those hands. Together, they make up the Philippine food system.

Its diversity is its strength. But only when producers, traders, markets, public programs and families are well connected can its full potential be unlocked. By strengthening these links, we can keep healthy food within reach of every household.

Connecting farms, markets and families

The Philippines’ agricultural lands and seas produce a remarkable variety of food. Yet many farmers and fishers lack steady buyers and incomes, while too many families still cannot afford a healthy diet. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, an estimated 45 percent of Filipinos were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2025.

Across more than 7,000 islands, in one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, the task is not simply to grow more food. It is to strengthen the links between local producers, public programs, markets and families. By doing so, farmers will have reliable buyers, families can afford nutritious food and the system continues to work when disasters strike.

The government already has several tools that can link farms and local markets to families. Following a presidential decree ordering the law’s full implementation in 2025, a vegetable farmers’ cooperative can sell directly to the local government and to national feeding programs under the Sagip Saka Act. For farmers, a public purchase is not a contract on paper; it is a buyer they can count on.

For a family that cannot afford a plate, government feeding programs are a lifeline. Through the Walang Gutom Program, food-poor households receive a monthly food voucher, alongside sessions that help families plan healthier meals and earn a living. When families use their food credit to buy food at a nearby store, they help their families eat better, while also creating stable demand for local producers.

With the shifting of the Department of Education and the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education to hot, fresh school meals to improve children’s health and nutrition and academic performance, ingredients are sourced from local farmer cooperatives. One tray of food feeds a child, pays a farmer, employs a cook and builds a future.

Local governments can make these links last. By using local budgets to buy school meal ingredients from farmer cooperatives, they strengthen local economies and attract investment. However, farmers still need financing and insurance to grow their businesses and recover from climate disasters.

A system that holds when shocks come

The Philippine food system will soon be tested. PAGASA expects the current El Niño to result in increasing drought conditions through the first half of 2027. This dry weather, combined with high transport and production costs, will make nutritious food more expensive and harder for families to afford. Taking early action keeps food on family tables, protects crops and keeps local markets running before, during and after the dry months.

The country already knows that acting early works. Under Republic Act 12287 or the Declaration of State of Imminent Disaster Act, the government can proactively act on weather forecasts and early warnings before disasters strike. With its newly approved implementing rules and regulations, the law gives national agencies and local governments a clear guide to turn early warnings into quick action that protects lives, livelihoods and local economies.

The Philippine government’s leadership is crucial to this work. Farmers, fisherfolk, businesses, local government and communities make it real. WFP is partnering with all sectors to bring evidence and global experience to support government-led efforts to buy more from local farmers, strengthen school meals, link food and cash support to local markets and act before disasters strike.

The challenge that lies ahead is making what already exists work better together. Local governments and schools can use Sagip Saka to buy school meal ingredients from nearby cooperatives, so every school lunch also pays a farmer. More Walang Gutom partner stores can be farmers cooperatives and KADIWA outlets, so every food credit reaches a producer. And drought triggers and funding can be agreed now, before El Niño peaks, so help arrives before harvests fail.

The Philippines already has the institutions, knowledge and people to make this happen. Now is the time to strengthen these connections so the system works for everyone. From the woman farmer, the indigenous cooperative, the vendor at her stall before dawn, to the family a mountain road away from the nearest market. When many hands strengthen one system, every Filipino family can have a place at the table.

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Regis Chapman is Representative and Country Director, World Food Program Philippines.