THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic has disrupted supply chains, and this is more evident in our food supply. Since the enhanced community quarantine was imposed, food insecurity is one of the chief concerns of people.
As a parallel effort to stave off the economic deleterious effects of COVID-19, the national government should also focus on strengthening our food production frontlines by pouring funds to improve and enhance the agriculture and agribusiness sectors. The government should, for example, resume with a new sense of urgency the repair and construction of rural infrastructure like irrigation and support to farmers and farm producers, which are needed to boost food production.
Strengthening the country’s farms is also the right step to achieve food security and self-sufficiency, as many countries have already imposed export bans or some form of restrictions on some food commodities to protect domestic supply. For example, Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Colombia, and the European Union, among others, have imposed some form of export restrictions on food and other products at the onset of the COVID-19 health crisis. In Southeast Asia alone, Vietnam earlier imposed an export ban on rice, but decided to lift the restrictions last month.
With countries we’re getting our food from imposing export bans, we have to start relying on ourselves. We need to be more independent when it comes to our food supply. We need to build resiliency against pandemics and multiple disasters.
According to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) late last year, more than a quarter of the country’s food supply was imported. Import dependence rose to 29.16 percent in 2018, up from 22.67 percent in 2017 and 22.51 percent in 2016, said the PSA’s Food Balance Sheets for 2016-2018.
While we strengthen our healthcare system, we need also to boost our food production. We cannot battle COVID-19 or any other calamity or disaster that will come our way on an empty stomach or on fears of a limited food supply.
