A lot of work to be done: Gov’t to step up efforts to alleviate hunger

By Prince Golez

The government will spare no effort to ensure Filipinos have adequate food on their tables, according to Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.

On Sunday, Nograles, also chair of the Task Force Zero Hunger, said they are looking closely at the latest self-rated food poverty rate to identify areas of concern that require immediate attention.

He was reacting to the latest Social Weather Stations survey results that showed 32 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as “food-poor,” while 23 percent said they are not food poor. Forty-five percent placed themselves on the borderline.

“We note that self-rated food poverty for the month of May (32 percent) is close to the average self-rated food poverty rate in 2020 (31 percent), given the limitations in livelihood as a result of pandemic restrictions,” the Palace official said.

“We also believe that there is growing evidence that tells us that the government should stay the course in its programs while stepping up efforts to stamp out hunger,” added Nograles.

The secretary noted that the efforts of the Task Force and the Department of Agriculture to improve food security “may have had a positive impact and may have helped prevent self-rated food poverty numbers in 2020 from increasing due to the pandemic lockdowns.”

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Zero Hunger Task Force chief said the country’s estimated self-sufficiency for ratio aggregated food products increased from 81.3 percent in 2019 to 83 percent in 2020. This indicates that 83 percent of the food supply came from the domestic production.

While the country has made some progress in addressing hunger, the latest self-rated food poverty figure indicated that the government still has “a lot of work to do,” Nograles concluded.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)