Marcos vows to boost agriculture sector amid looming food crisis

MANILA, Philippines — President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has reiterated his dedication to prioritize the agriculture sector because the world braces for a looming food crisis attributable to the pandemic and the worsening battle between Russia and Ukraine.

“Incoming president Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.’s resolve to prioritize and boost agriculture will be effected through immediate and long-term actions, as governments worldwide brace for a looming food crisis and increasing levels of food insecurity,” press secretary-designate Trixie Cruz-Angeles stated in a press release yesterday.

Angeles famous that the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Food Program (WFP) have been equally warning of “acute food insecurity” due to overlapping crises.

“The lingering effects of COVID-19, weather extremes, economic shocks, conflict, the rising cost of fuel and energy, public debt burdens and disruptions in supply chain brought about by the war in Ukraine have been identified as factors exacerbating the strain on food security, which has now become a race against time,” stated Angeles.

Angeles admitted that addressing the food scenario can be a fantastic problem to Marcos, particularly after the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. earlier forecast that the spike in world costs would possibly immediate some international locations to restrict or ban exporting food and different objects to handle their home wants, as what occurred through the 2007 to 2008 food crisis.

“That will be a challenge for the incoming Marcos administration, as we are currently dependent on some food importations, including rice,” Angeles stated.

Nonetheless, Angeles stated that Marcos and his financial crew at the moment are making ready an “immediate response” to handle the anticipated food crisis on high of long-term measures to finally obtain “food security and food sovereignty.”

“It will require an immediate response, even as president-elect Marcos stresses the long-term solutions should be simultaneously underway,” Angeles stated.

“Still, the incoming chief executive stressed, he remains committed to his aspiration to achieve food security and food sovereignty,” Angeles added.

Marcos, through the marketing campaign interval, had stated that he intends to revitalize the agriculture sector so as to obtain food safety and restrict the importation of agricultural merchandise that may be grown regionally.