A researcher from Philippine Institute for Development Studies said addressing issues in the country’s food system to attain security should be seen from a wider perspective.
PIDS Supervising Research Specialist Ivory Myka Galang, in a recent webinar, said food availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability are among the requirements for food security.
Galang, citing the consensus of representatives from the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Science and Technology — Food and Nutrition Research Institute, and the National Nutrition Council, added that establishing a sustainable food system requires multisectoral coordination and collaboration to address all challenges simultaneously.
“The food system cannot be isolated from the transport, energy, health, and other systems. So, programs and initiatives must always consider the coordination among agencies handling the different systems,” she said.
Jason Paolo Labrador, science research specialist of the DoST-FNRI Nutrition and Food Research and Development Division, said that reinforcing key action plans can be done through broad and multilevel strategies of various actors.
Fellow discussant and DA Policy Research Service senior staff Ian Jomari Panaga added that farmers and fisherfolk could benefit from collaborating with local government units and the private sector.
The DA is mobilizing and organizing smallholders to facilitate their empowerment and provide credit support and extension services at the grassroots level.
“Through these initiatives, we can engage our cooperatives to become viable blocks or units of production with higher operational efficiency and improved profits,” Panaga said.
Galang said continuous data-driven monitoring and evaluation must be conducted. Tools such as the web-based Philippine Food Security Information System help improve the strategy, implementation, and evaluation of food security.
According to Ellen Ruth Abella, officer-in-charge of the NNC Nutrition Surveillance Division, there is a need to improve health and nutrition literacy for better food utilization. Mainstreaming health and nutrition literacy in all the elements of food security can help the country’s food system.
The NNC, she said, coordinates the Nutrition Promotion Program for Behavior Change to focus on the interaction of interpersonal communication, community communication, mass media, and social media.
