ACCORDING to the World Bank, hunger in the Philippines rose sharply following the start of the pandemic. On the other hand, a fourth-quarter of 2021 survey of Social Weather Station (SWS) showed around three million families across the country have experienced hunger due to lack of food at least once in the past three months. According to the polling firm, the hunger rate in the Philippines rose to 11.8 percent in December 2021 — 1.8 percent higher than the recorded 10 percent in September of the same year.
There are several possible reasons for the hunger among Filipinos: Food production may not be keeping up with our growing population. There simply is not enough food. By the time the food produced at the farm level gets to the consumers, food prices are too high. Many cannot buy at these high retail prices. Some cannot purchase the food they need because they have too little income or what income they have for food has largely been eaten up by inflation.
What is clear, though, is that food production did not keep up with the growing population. In 1990 to 1999 for example, the Philippine population grew at 2.3 percent while agriculture growth averaged only 2.1 percent. In other words, food production didn’t keep up with the growing population. The agricultural growth rates increased to 3.6 percent in 2000, 3.9 in both 2001 and 2002 (a mild El Niño year), 3.7 percent in 2003, and 3.8 in 2004 to 2006. These rates were all higher than the 2.3 population growth rate then. Now the country has over a hundred million population but our agriculture sector has not been just as productive. No pun intended. Why, we even import rice!
While we acknowledge that the government is doing what it can to promote and improve the agricultural sector, there are still millions of Filipinos experiencing hunger. This only shows that hunger is not determined by food production alone. Food prices must also be factored in. Although the prices of food, like vegetables, are very low and affordable in the farmgate, these must be transported to the market. Before it reached the retail level, the prices have jacked up to as much as 40 to 80 percent.
Why is that? Those in the retail level, which is the consumers, are the most affected. They are the people in the survey who said they experience involuntary hunger.
The government should examine what happens from the time food is actually produced at the farmgate to the time it reaches the consumers in the retail market.
During the election campaign season, then presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos talked about slashing the price of rice to P20 a kilo. Let us see…
