Food: improving human well being in the Philippines

Despite the Philippines’ long-term efforts towards becoming food self-sufficient, food insecurity remains one of the country’s major concerns. In fact, it has been importing rice (the country’s staple food), meat, livestock (including dairy products) and other marine products since the 1990s. Its rapidly growing population, which at 2.36% per year, is the fastest in East Asia, has eroded the previous economic gains and severely strains access to basic social services (USAID Philippines 2005). Moreover, the estimated 86 million Filipinos represent an insurmountable challenge as far as achieving food security is concerned.

The production sectors’ inability to cope with the increases in food requirements has deprived the populations, especially in the rural areas of this very basic need resulting in hunger, poor health conditions, and poverty. The rural areas, incidentally, account for much of the country’s poorest populations.

Hence, providing access to food would not only mean satisfying a basic need but also improving health conditions, stimulating the rural economy and alleviating poverty. Providing the rural populations access to food is therefore among the most direct means to address the country’s major development concerns.