
Despite the massive destruction brought by the recent typhoons to the agriculture sector, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assured on Friday the country has enough food supply.
“In terms of food security, we’re alright. But marami talagang nasisira. Nasira na…ang dami ng nasira na Palayan, ang dami na nasira na tanim. We will just have to compensate for that,” President Marcos said.
The President made the remarks when asked if the government is not bothered about the country’s food security following the successive typhoons that affected the country’s agriculture.
He said food production was high even during the El Niño phenomenon.
When asked about the typhoons’ effects on the government’s rice imports, President Marcos said he was informed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) of a possible importation of around 4.5 million tons.
“Ang upper estimate is 4.5 [million tons] but we have already in place the prices of rice – imported rice has gone down significantly since last year. And we are not in competition like during the El Niño period,” he said.
“During the El Niño period, tinamaan lahat ng ASEAN countries kaya’t tumaas presyo kasi lahat namimili. Titignan natin. Of course, we’ll do everything to control the price of the food, especially those products that have been damaged or destroyed by Pepito,” he added.
The successive typhoons in the country caused around PhP7.039 billion in agricultural damages and losses in Regions I, II, CAR, III, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, V, VI, VIII, and XII. | PND