THE government has established a group headed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to report regularly on the state of food and water security during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

In a briefing Sunday, Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Spokesperson Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said that a Food Security subgroup will be established under the body tasked to implement the government’s National Action Plan on dealing with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This is to “ensure food and water security, including shelter and energy.”

The Food Security subgroup under the Technical Group of Resource and Logistics Management of the National Task Force will be led by the DA. Member agencies the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Mr. Nograles said the Food Security subgroup will “give regular updates to the appropriate NTF TG on food production and manufacturing.”

According to Mr. Nograles, activating the Food Security subgroup was a recommendation of the National Security Council (NSC) and approved by the IATF-EID.

Last month, the IATF-EID approved a P31-billion supplemental budget for the DA’s so-called Plant, Plant, Plant program to boost food production during the COVID-19 crisis. — Gillian M. Cortez

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