DA ASKS MAYORS TO SUBMIT
LOCAL FOOD SECURITY PLAN
By Manny Piñol
The Department of Agriculture, with the support of the Dept. of Interior and Local Government, will ask all the town mayors in the country to prepare their local food security which would lay out plans on how they would feed their constituents.
The theme of the Food Security Forum is “Mamamayan Ko, Pakakainin Ko.” It aims to remind the local executives that one of their most important duties is to ensure that they could provide food for their people.
The Municipal Food Security plan will indicate each town’s population, the food consumption and the capability to produce the food requirement of their people will be submitted to the DA during a series of forum in four areas next month.
The exact dates of the forum titled “Mamamayan ko, Pakakainin Ko,” including the venue, will be announced later.
The mayors will be divided in four clusters – Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
For the guidance of the Mayors, the Municipal Food Security Plan should include the following:
1. Topo and geographical map of the town;
2. Total population and land area;
3. Existing and potential production areas for rice, corn, vegetables, poultry and livestock;
4. Level of food sufficiency, especially rice and vegetables;
5. Interventions required to achieve food sufficiency like farm to market roads, irrigation, post-harvest facilities;
6. Possible sources of food supply in cases where the town because of its topography and soil conditions could not produce enough for its population.
The Municipal Food Security Plan will clearly indicate whether a town is capable of feeding its own people and what it needs to produce food, like how many kilometers of farm to market roads, where are the potential sources of water and post harvest facilities.
The Food Security Plan of each town will be collated and included in a National Food Security Plan which will be submitted to President Rody Duterte.
On Tuesday, I informed President Duterte of the Food Security Forum involving the town mayors and he gave instructions to fasttrack the completion of the Food Security Plan.
The National Food Security Plan is expected to be the basis of programs and expenditures of the national government to ensure that there will be enough food for all.
(Photos showing rice fields, cattle, goats, pigs and fish were downloaded from public websites. Photo of the corn harvest was taken in my farm with my two daughters, Dr. Ma. Krista and Dr. Josa Bernadette, as corn pickers. Photo of the chicken was taken in my farm while photo of the vegetables were taken by Alan Jay Jacalan. The photo showing fish drying was also downloaded from public websites.)
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