INCOMING President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. promised to focus on the problems that threaten the country’s food supply and stymied the growth of the farm sector for decades as he envisions a food-secure and resilient Philippines.

Marcos, who will also sit as Agriculture secretary, said his administration will craft olan agricultural blueprint that will ensure every Filipino family will have food on the table.

He said the government’s program on addressing poverty and hunger should shift from “import-centric in which we rely heavily on importation of food products to feed the people, to production-centric in which our food requirements will be free from the dictates of market forces.”

“Kapag mapalakas natin ang ating agricultural sector, magkakaroon tayo ng food sufficiency at food security. At kapag sapat na ang food production natin at tayo na ang nagdidikta kung kailangan ba tayong mag-export ng ating produktong pagkain, masasabi natin na nakamtan na rin natin ang food sovereignty (Once we strengthen our agricultural sector, we will have food sufficiency and food security. And once we have enough food production and we

are the ones dictating whether we need to export our food products, we can say that we have also achieved food sovereignty),” Marcos said in an earlier interview.

The incoming president said that it is important to go beyond the so-called food security and food sufficiency.

“Ang food sovereignty para sa amin ni Inday

Sara ay iyong kalagayan ng ating bansa kung saan ang bawat Pilipino ay hindi na magugutom dahil may sapat na silang pagkain sa hapagkainan (Food sovereignty for me and Inday Sara is when no Filipino will go hungry because they have enough food on the table),” he said, referring to Vice President-elect Sara DuterteCarpio.

Marcos said it is only through food sovereignty when people can determine their own destiny as far as their food supply and requirements are concerned.

“We must create a system that would allow Filipinos to reclaim power in the food supply chain. We are basically an agricultural country, so we have the resources and the land and the people to attain that food sovereignty,” he said. “We really need a thorough and orderly program and full support of the government to farmers, livestock raisers and fishermen.”

Marcos noted that the agricultural sector should be able to provide a secure and strategic food supply for the economy to thrive and for the country to move to an industrialized state.

He also stressed the need to revitalize research and development and to determine the best varieties and the best techniques that could work best for the different regions.

“If there is public investment in agriculture, that will create many jobs. Agriculture is a critical element of the socioeconomic structure; it is the foundation. We cannot build industrialization unless we have a strong agricultural foundation,” he added.

As secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), Marcos said he aims to increase food production.

One of Marcos’ campaign promises is to bring down the price of rice to P20 a kilo, an aspiration he seeks to fulfill during his administration.

However, rising fertilizer cost is expected to make rice more expensive.

“That [P20 per kilo of rice] is the aspiration. Bubuin natin iyong value chain (We will fix the value chain),” he said.

He acknowledged that fixing the value chain is the long term solution.

There is also the problem of aging farmers.

“Our farmers are aged, 56, 57. That is not a good number. That is too high a number,” Marcos said. “How do we change that? We must employ new technologies. It has to be industrial farming.”