PASAY CITY. Department of Agriculture (DA) held its first ever Food Security Summit in the first week of October at the Philippine International Convention Center here. The event is a four-fold event that gathered the local officials of different municipalities that were grouped into clusters (Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao).
Southern Luzon had the summit on October 4 with over 500 participants composed of Municipal/City Mayors, Vice Mayor, Board Members, Agriculturist/Officers, and Planning and Development Officers.
The gathering with the theme “Mamayan ko, Papakainin ko” aimed to strategize with the local executives how they will provide food to their people.
“We do not lack food, our problem is food positioning and access to market,” Secretary Emmanuel Piñol declared during the Summit.
As such, each Municipality was asked to submit their five (5)-year local food security plan that will indicate the town’s profile, population, food consumption and its capability to produce the food requirement of their people and the interventions needed from the DA to achieve food security.
This will be collated by the DA to craft its own National Food Security Plan as blueprint of the national government for their programs and expenditures.
“This is the first time the Agriculture Secretary gathers local executives to ask what your town needs,” he said in his talk in the summit.
He also presented the new innovations of DA such as a) online application of National Color Coded Guide Map that can show the most suitable crop for such area as well as the water availability; b) the Soil Fertility Map which will indicate the nutrient requirement and the right fertilizer application; c) an accessible Database of Farmers and Fishers’ Profile in each municipality, it will show the interventions he/she received, the farm area, among others; d) and the Solar Powered Irrigation an efficient and cost-effective irrigation using solar energy.
From MIMAROPA, there were 18 Mayors who came and mostly were represented by their Vice Mayor and Sanggunian Bayan Members, Municipal/City Agriculturists/Officer and Municipal Planning and Development Officers. However, there were a total of 57 municipalities with cities who participated.
After the Secretary’s presentation, Regional Executive Director Arnel De Mesa, DA-CALABARZON , presented South Luzon situationer. While Mayor Fernando Mesa of Alabat Island in Quezon Province and Mayor Antonio Carolino of Sta Maria, Laguna presented their food security action plan.
As the event came to a close, the Secretary and all the attendees including Regional Executive Directors----Dr. Antonio Gerundio, DA-MIMAROPA, Dr. Elena De Los Santos, DA-Bicol, and Engr. Arnel De Mesa signed the commitment wall as a pledge of their support to food security.
