The Philippines has suffered with food shortages for many years. 2 out of every 5 Filipinos are considered food poor, which means they lack access to nutritious food. With over 100 million mouths to feed, the agriculture and fisheries sectors have always been under immense pressure – but with the pandemic, things have gotten much harder.
“COVID-19 is seriously affecting our food systems. We can’t bring safe, affordable, and nutritious food to where it needs to go anymore. We’re seeing disruptions in delivery systems, a lack of a work force, and whole sorts of food accessibility challenges,” said Monci Hinay, WWF-Philippines’ Sustainable Food Systems Project Manager. An advocate of food accessibility, Hinay is worried that the current situation will see ripple effects that could leave the Philippines in worse trouble than it already is in.
Boats sit on the shores of Tiwi, Bicol. As fisherfolk run out of income, they lose the basic capital needed to produce food. Photograph © Alo Lantin / WWF-Philippines
“This isn’t just a problem for us, but for those in the food sector, too. We’re seeing a lack of income for those working in the food and agriculture sector,” continued Hinay. As we continue further into the nationwide lockdown, human movement across the country has stopped. As worried consumers turn to canned and processed food instead of looking for what’s fresh from the farms and wet markets, incomes have begun to dry up for small-scale farmers and fishermen.
“If us fisherfolk already had a hard time with our lack of earnings, what more now? The community quarantine has limited our markets. We aren’t able to sell our catches any more. Many of us aren’t even taking to the sea anymore, since all we’re doing is wasting our money,” said Atenogenes Reaso, Gulf of Lagonoy Tuna Fishers Federation, Inc. President. Only a week into the lockdown, many of the fisherfolk under the watch of Reaso are enduring terrible blows to their livelihoods. Their outlook on the future is likewise grim.
“If this carries on, us fisherfolk will earn nothing. Hunger – that’s what will get us,” added Reaso. Should things continue as they have been, we could be faced with a collapse of our countries’ food systems. As producers run out of money, their ability to produce food will lessen. Eventually they won’t be able to produce food at all, which will become a great problem for those living in the cities. With food producers unable to make food, markets will collapse and the Philippines might spiral further into a nationwide food crisis.
