DOLE-OUTS NOT THE ANSWER TO HUNGER -- ANGARA

Senator Edgardo Angara expressed serious concern over the P1-billion assistance government has offered to stave off hunger, saying that Stop-gap measures cannot be solutions to problems as serious as hunger.

The three-time senator, known for his authorship of bills regarding food security and agricultural reforms, stressed that government has all the legislative ammunition to fight off hunger at the very roots. The key, he says, is to implement existing laws.

Hunger is direly linked to poverty, Angara explained. And there are three cogs to alleviating poverty: food production, rural infrastructure, and agro-tourism. Implemented to the letter, these will secure harvest at the countryside, generate jobs and increase the income of Filipinos, especially in the provinces, and provide enough food on our table.

According to Angara, the country is facing a dearth in post-harvest facilities, which results in losses in harvest amounting to billions of pesos. In 2001, the total losses of palay due to lack of post-harvest facilities represented 14.84% of the country's total production, or the equivalent of P15.23 billion. These losses are far more than the P7.65 billion the country has spent for rice importation.

Agricultural reforms should concentrate initially on building a network of post-harvest facilities across the country to reduce loss and wastage. Right now, this is the most strategic investment in the sector. We need to provide every province with an integrated milling complex. We need dryers and silos, grains-handling facilities in ports, a cold chain system and refrigeration facilities, the former Agriculture secretary pointed out.

For Angara, it is not enough that government allotted P1 billion for rice or noodle distribution to schools, as he believes the amount will not fully solve hunger in the long term and from a wider perspective. Government should stop thinking of stop-gap measures, band-aid or instant-coffee solutions to problems that clearly require sustained government action.

Angara has authored numerous bills on agricultural reforms aimed at advancing food security and concept of agro-tourism. Growing up in his hometown in Baler, Aurora, even at a young age, he was introduced to the plight of farmers and fishermen, the memory of which he carried with him into the halls of the Philippine Senate.