Research group IBON said that the Philippines having the third worst incidence of severe and moderate food insecurity in Southeast Asia shows the Marcos Jr administration’s failure on multiple development fronts. Amid the run up to the 2025 midterm elections, the group said that the country needs leaders who understand that millions of Filipinos are going hungry from the poverty crisis, inadequate agricultural policies, and overdependencies on global markets. Only then can there be real solutions.
IBON noted that the latest report of the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed the Philippines with the third highest incidence of severe and moderate food insecurity (44.1% of the population) after Timor-Leste (53.7%) and Cambodia (50.5%) in the period 2021-2023. This translates into the Philippines having the highest number of moderately and severely food insecure people (51 million) compared to other Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar (17.4 million), Indonesia (13.6 million), Vietnam (10.6 million), among others.
The large number of Filipinos that are food insecure is due to a combination of factors that the Marcos government is failing to address, said the group. Widespread poverty limits access to food which is mainly purchased on the market. The number of self-rated poor families grew to 16.3 million or 59% of Filipino families in September 2024, according to Social Weather Stations (SWS). Meanwhile, households without savings grew to 19.2 million or 71% of households in the third quarter of 2024, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Informality in employment is prevalent with 42% (20.8 million) of total employed persons that are outright informal workers.
Agricultural policies are needed to expand production with support to small farmers for sustainable agriculture astride protection from land-grabbing and land conversion. The over-reliance on global markets for food, including the staple of rice, and for inputs to food production also has to be corrected to reduce vulnerabilities. The direction should be towards strengthening local food systems while considering the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on agriculture.
IBON said that the people need government officials that will make effective policy decisions to address food insecurity based on the real situation. Structural changes and a vision of long-term agricultural development are necessary, not short-sighted populist measures so politicians look good or that only serve the interest of big business.
An important and immediate solution is ensuring substantial social protection to the poor and most vulnerable and significantly raising wages. In the long term, more funds and resources need to be poured into domestic agriculture to support producers and agricultural productivity, said the group. #