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Showing posts with the label Organic Agriculture

Food sufficiency in the Philippines: An impossible dream

Food sufficiency in the Philippines still remain an impossible dream as clearly shown by the actions and policies of the government. When inflation hit 9.7% this September 2018, the immediate response was to flood the market with imported products. That was logical as a “vulcaseal” solution but a bad idea for long term direction. We may be able to address food security temporarily but never food security. Unfortunately, the importation policy will be here to stay. As Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol clearly stated : "Our food security program requires a ten- to 20 year-forward planning and we're looking at Papua New Guinea as our food security insurance… So if our 3.9 million hectares could feed 95 percent of Filipinos right now, you can just imagine what four million hectares in Papua New Guinea would be able to contribute to our food security program.” First, the vision is only food security not sustainability. Second, food security will be realized not