Yesterday, I received a distress call from a friend, Marlon Aranas, who said his family’s hog farm in Makilala, Cotabato could not sell some 700 ready-to-slaughter hogs because of the lockdowns imposed by different local government units..
I immediately called up North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco and asked her to consider buying farmers’ produce like chicken, eggs and hogs which could be distributed to local residents as Food Assistance.
“Tama, no? Instead of distributing canned goods, why don’t we just buy our local farmers’ produce and distribute these to poor families needing food assistance during the Lockdown,” was Gov. Catamco’s positive reply.
Marlon’s problem actually rekindled an idea which I proposed as early as 2018 following the Rice Supply Crisis in TawiTawi – a Sustainable Food Security Master Plan for Local Government Units.
I then proceeded to design a program called “Self-Sustaining Food Security Strategy (SSFSS) for Mindanao areas which I asked Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Undersecretary Janet Lopoz to disseminate to the Mayors and Governors of Mindanao for their consideration.
As the name suggests, SSFSS aims to ensure that local government units are able to quantify their current food supply inventory and identify possible sources of food supply.
Under SSFSS, LGU Chief Executives will be asked to undertake the following actions:
1. Design and implement a Municipal or Provincial Food Security Action Plan;
2. Conduct an inventory and Quantify existing supplies of basic food commodities like rice, eggs, poultry, meat and fruits like banana;
3. Identify individuals or groups which could undertake sustained food production;
4. Encourage families, especially those confined to their farms, to undertake simple food production activities like vegetable growing and backyard chicken raising by distributing seeds and breeding materials for chicken;
5. Utilize locally produced food commodities i.e. fish, poultry, eggs, vegetables, rice, pork, meat for calamity assistance, thus creating a localized market for farmers’ and fishermen’s produce whose distribution is impaired by the existing lockdowns;
6. Identify neighboring LGUs which would have excess production of any food commodity and forge an alliance of two or more LGUs to establish a symbiotic food supply relationship;
7. Establish a marketing and distribution system which would ensure available food supply for the families within the community while at the same time, mindful of the quarantine protocols enforced;
The MinDA Self-Sustaining Food Supply Strategy will ensure availabile food supply during the period of the Community Quarantine and Lockdown while providing a market for local farmers’ produce.
(Photo of Bangus harvest was taken by the MinDA Media Team in Sta. Cruz, Davao Del Sur while the other photos were downloaded from public websites.)
More Stories
Trump Presidency Boon To Philippine Agriculture
Mindanao Fruit Fest Scheduled Sept. 2025
DA, MinDA, LGU! MinDA Targets Tribal Areas For Highland Rice Farming