Importance of Food Security

With the recent issue of onions reaching record-high prices in the country, the issue of food security and local production has been brought up several times by advocacy groups and government officials. Prices of onions hit as high as over ₱800 per kilogram. This is more than the minimum wage of an average worker in Metro Manila.

According to October 2022, survey results of the World Food Program, one out of ten households in the Philippines are food insecure but the poorest areas have been more greatly affected. The three most insecure food regions in the {hilippines are namely BARMM, Region VIII, and Region XII.

Aside from this, the study showed that households that relied on livelihoods related to agriculture are significantly more food insecure.

This recent issue of food security in the Philippines has shown the dependence on our country for imports and how local production fails to meet local demand. In the region, the Philippines is the country with the largest trade food deficit equivalent to over negative 2% of the GDP in the last three years.

Restaurants, households, and those in the food industry have since reduced their consumption of onions, which are an important ingredient in several Filipino dishes.

In the 2021 Global Food Security Index, the Philippines ranked 64th out of 133 nations regarding food security.

The Philippines is currently dealing with several issues on the topic of food security but must have concrete steps to address this in the long term, such as incentivizing farmers, building more efficient facilities and logistics systems, and lessening dependence on imports from other countries.

Sources: World Food Programme, Carnegie Endowment, BBC,