Elements for a resilient food system

By Chelsey Keith P. Ignacio, Special Features Writer

The journey of foods from production to consumption encounters a variety of roadblocks in the Philippines. According to its “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” in 2020, the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recorded 59 million Filipinos suffering from food insecurity in 2017 to 2019, the highest number in Southeast Asia. Actions towards “eradicating hunger” experienced continuing challenges, among the causes was natural disasters.

The food situation in the country further became affected with the quarantine impositions due to the pandemic. From the “Rapid Nutrition Assessment Survey” conducted from November to December 2020 by the Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DoST-FNRI), 62.1% of the surveyed households experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.

Climate crisis and pandemic implications as vulnerabilities of the country’s food systems were also stressed in the BusinessWorld Insights on “Ensuring Resiliency in our Food Systems” held on Oct. 13. Experts from the food and agriculture sector nonetheless shared the means to cultivate a resilient chain of producing foods.

Field innovations

Romeo S. Recide, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Philippines Representative and Secretary to the Board, considered innovations as hope in addressing the impacts of different issues in the food system.

For Mr. Recide, a prime achievement in the collaboration between IRRI, the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) was the food regulatory approval of golden rice in the country.

“Filipino farmers can now be the first in the world to grow this beta-carotene fortified rice, which has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of childhood blindness among malnourished children,” he said.

The partnership has also developed a digital advisory for farmers about crop, nutrient, and pest management.

They also used satellite-based information to give details on the current situation of the area, yield, and possible interventions that the government has to carry out to protect the crop.

Another development of IRRI is rice straw management, which can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Recide hoped that DA would soon consider and distribute drone technology to the field as well. “We have demonstrated how this is done not only in overseeing the crop situation but also in delivering fertilizer, pesticide application, and then [exceeding] in the farm, which is good for labor and efficiency,” he said.

“Increasing and intensifying climate change impacts, competition in the use of natural resources for production, and the growing populations are straining our food systems’ ability to deliver available, accessible, and affordable food. And the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have also exposed the fragility of food systems, either local, regional, or global,” Mr. Recide expressed.

“So, resilience needs to be built into our value chains from seeds and cultivation to harvesting and transport from farm to market. Advances in various fields show promise in delivering solutions to some of the challenges that we face.”

New approaches

Tamara P. Duran, an assistant FAO representative for programme, discussed some approaches to develop a better food system in the country.

In supporting the improved functionality of these systems in the pandemic response and recovery, Ms. Duran said that employing a holistic approach was crucial in evaluating and addressing constraints as well as trade-offs implied in the resolution.

“The focus should be building back better while leaving no one behind. This calls for promoting innovations for increased efficiency; enhancing inclusiveness and resilience of food supply chains; ensuring food safety and nutritional quality of diets; reducing food loss and waste; [taming] and strengthening agri-food enterprises; and fostering investment in the green recovery of food value chains,” she said.

The promotion of domestic food production and shorter supply chains are also imperative, as these are key to building a resilient and sustainable local food system.

Ms. Duran also shared that FAO recognized the value of innovations to enhance the agri-food system resilience, but emphasized that innovation does not only comprise technologies.

“[It is] also developing new kinds or worthwhile approaches or methodologies and making sure that they reach and are understood by the actual people who will be using them. This may include promoting biodiversity for food security and nutrition and new ways of resilient livelihoods for communities with different contexts,” she said.

And to be more resilient and sustainable, evidence and sufficient information are also valuable in the process. “It will help inform the decision-makers and policymakers where the scarce public resources should be allocated. And at the same time, it can help inform the different partners or actors on what are the gaps and where their contribution is most needed or more impact can be generated from,” she explained.

In ensuring the capacity of the country to foresee and withstand risks and potential threats to food security, Ms. Duran added that “planning and preparing in advance, having mitigation measures at hand, and making sure that everyone knows what to do are very much essential to prevent the recurrences of food supply disruption.”

Diversifying foods

Charina A. Javier, science research specialist II at the Nutrition Assessment and Monitor Division of DoST-FNRI, highlighted the need for diversification in foods.

Discussing the food system challenges in availability, which involves production and distribution, Ms. Javier noted that agricultural policies comprise more favor in cash crops that have reduced the focus on diversifying food and livelihood opportunities.

A study by the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research in 2020, she added, saw that the Philippines met rice requirements. But the country has an oversupply of protein sources like meat and fish products. While vegetables and fruits are insufficient, counting in both local produce and imports.

“There is a need for us to diversify the food that is available in terms of production and distribution,” Ms. Javier said. “We have to support small and medium enterprises to develop added-value products from our agriculture produce and use technology to connect our food producers and consumers.”

“The message number one of the nutritional guidelines for Filipinos is eating a variety of food every day,” she added. “I think it should also be our guide from the production to consumption, from farm to plate.”

Collective efforts

Ayn G. Torres, a policy specialist and researcher at World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), said that solutions for issues in the food system resilience can be done on a larger or smaller scale.

Ms. Torres agreed on the possibility of nurturing vegetable gardens at home, whether integrated with trees or not, as long as diversified. However, the space to plant a nutrition-rich, diversified range of species can be an issue, especially for the poor in urban settlements where spaces can be cramped. “This is where a lot of public and private initiated efforts are very much appreciated,” she said.

“We should always highlight the role of the local government in these efforts. We have seen how much the power of the local government can do in terms of recovery response during the pandemic.”

She shared that local governments have also started community gardening to aggregate people to begin such gardening as well.

“We have to recognize that it can be done on a smaller scale, [and] we should look at it to try to level that up [so] more people can benefit,” she added.

Ms. Torres also noted that “while a bigger chunk of [food system] problems like economic and environmental can be solved at the policy or public sector level, we encourage a lot of private-sector movement also because that is [where] most of the innovations start.”

This session of #BUSINESSWORLDINSIGHTS was made possible by SM Foundation and was supported by British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and The Philippine STAR.