MANILA — Food security, as defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is a situation that exists where “all people have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle at all times.” It exists in four dimensions: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilization and stability over time.

The Philippines, located in the middle of the Pacific, has experienced several threats to food security over the past few years. Food supply has been gravely affected by a string of natural calamities that have rendered farmer crops unusable, while problems caused by the lack of adequate infrastructure have posed an unnecessary and formidable challenge to farmers.

A growing income gap between the upper and lower classes has hampered proper access and utilization to food, especially for those who lie in the lower income brackets. So, what factors lead to food insecurity in the Philippines? Here are some causes in each of the dimensions:

Food availability

The economy of the Philippines is heavily dependent on agriculture. Most of what constitutes food security in the country depends on the agricultural sector; therefore, challenges faced by Filipino farmers and fishermen often have a detrimental effect on food security in the country.

The challenge often does not come from the quality of terrain, as seen in Djibouti. The Philippines is full of fertile lands ready to be cultivated for agriculture. It is the inconsistency of supply due to external disruptions from both controllable and uncontrollable factors that pose a challenge to food availability in the country.

The prevalence of natural calamities is one of the factors that contribute to food insecurity in the Philippines. The Philippines’ location in the middle of the Pacific makes the country susceptible to typhoons and droughts, some with devastating effects. Last year, a dry spell caused by the El Nino phenomenon destroyed 349,630 metric tons of crops, worth about $95 million. On the other hand, the string of typhoons that ravaged the country at the end of the year notably slowed down the national agricultural growth rate.

Another factor that contributes to the inconsistency of food supply in the market is the lack of accessible roads that link farms to retailers. The notable absence of farm-to-market roads (FMRs), which are national roads that connect farms and coastal areas to main highways, renders farmers unable to transport their goods.

The lack of FMRs has called the attention of many political officials, local and international. In 2010, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) released a report recommending the construction of 48,350 kilometers of FMRs, a recommendation that the Philippine government took on. However, in 2015, the Department of Agriculture released a statement saying that the government is yet to construct 14,989 kilometers of the needed FMRs.

The inefficiency on this front is an unnecessary burden for farmers and fisherfolk, who instead of traversing these roads decide not to spend money and energy trying to bring their products to the market and instead let their produce go to waste. It brings loss that these farmers cannot afford and traps them in an ignominious cycle of poverty and hardship.

Food access and stability

The biggest challenge to accessing food in the Philippines is the lack of income due to unemployment. This problem is especially prevalent in the southern island group of Mindanao, where nine of the 16 poorest provinces lie.

In Muslim Mindanao, which most recently serves as a battleground between ISIS-affiliated Maute group and the Philippines military, 50 percent of the population lives below the country’s poverty line, making just 60 cents per day. Those who reported to be food-insecure in this area cited lack of income (37 percent), lack of a regular job (18 percent) and droughts and natural calamities (12 percent) as main reasons for going hungry.

Food utilization

Proper food utilization ensures that “consumed food must have a positive nutritional impact on people” and people must be informed of “storage and hygiene practices, individual health, and water and sanitation and feeding and sharing practices.”

Again the challenge posed for this aspect of food security in the Philippines is income. In a country with the highest food prices in the region, only those with a sufficient income will be able to afford nutritious food. Those with lower incomes will have to settle for something less costly or sometimes with nothing at all.

Fruits and vegetables are one of the highest priced commodities in cities, which makes food insecurity in the Philippines a more formidable issue for the country to address. Products with the lowest prices are often packed with sugar or sodium.

Moreover, there is not enough awareness nor education on the possible effects of consuming products of such kind in the country. As a result, obesity rates are skyrocketing: 8.3 percent of children from the age of 10 to 19 are overweight, while adults over 20 years old have an overweight/obesity rate of 31.1 percent. The highest obesity incidence in the country lies in the capital, where 39.9 percent of adults are obese.

With targeted effort toward public information campaigns around nutrition and the completion of the necessary public transport infrastructure the country needs, many of the issues around food insecurity in the Philippines could be alleviated. Once farmers are able to produce and sell freely, and people are able to afford food that nourishes them properly, this aspect of poverty in the Philippines can be effectively addressed and eliminated.

– Bella Suansing

Photo: Flickr