LOCALIZING FOOD SECURITY

As far as I know, mayors and governors do not have any responsibility or accountability when it comes to food security. Some of them might be doing something about it on their own, but it is purely voluntary on their part, and there is no compulsion for them to do anything regarding that. One ironic reality that is happening now, is that the national government is importing rice and is supplying it to the cities and provinces, without even consulting the mayors and governors whether there is really a shortage of rice in their own jurisdictions or not. In theory, some of these cities and provinces could probably produce and supply their own rice requirements, if only the national government would support them in terms of irrigation, harvesting, drying and milling. Rice production is not rocket science therefore our local executives can surely do it. Now that the President has called for studies about which national functions to devolve to the LGUs, our economic team should look into the possibility of devolving the food security function downwards to the cities and provinces. This could be a good way to create local employment also. In the same way that the government has created electric cooperatives under NEA, perhaps it could also create food cooperatives possibly under CDA or even DTI, since CDA is now under DTI. IKE SENERES/09088877282/01-02-2024