Impact of Food Crisis Will Be Felt at the End of 2022 – DA

According to the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Ukraine-Russia war continues to pose challenges for food shipment internationally. 

In the public briefing of Laging Hada, Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar said that “We will feel more of that [food crisis in] the last quarter of the year. That’s when you can feel most of the impact,”. 

Secretary Dar penned a letter to Mr. Qu Dongyu, the current director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and asked them to “spearhead another global appeal to various countries to keep unhampered the movement of food and agricultural inputs as part of the global effort to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agriculture and food systems.”

The DA has stated that “The Philippines, being import-reliant as local food production does not fully meet population demand, is most vulnerable, along with other developing countries,”

Prices for food have gone up exponentially both locally and overseas due to the war between Ukraine and Russia. This has prompted unprecedented highs in goods such as oil, wheat, grains, and fertilizers. 

Secretary Dar has mentioned that a solution to the ongoing food crisis would be to increase local production. Back in March 2022, the DA introduced the “Plant, Plant, Plant” Program Part 2”. 

This initiative was a way for the government to soften the blows of the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war. The majority of the budget for this project would be allocated to ₱20 billion worth of fertilizer subsidies for farmers to lessen their production costs.

Source: Inquirer