DA justifies imports, says it ensures food security
By Robina Asido
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said imports are only done to ensure food security in the country.
"All of our decision is based on the deficiency. The gap that we were not able to produce locally, that is what we import. So that is ensuring food security," Agriculture Secretary William Dar said during the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing on Friday.
"We are still a net-importing country..,. Do we have the budgetary support to make it possible that we produce 100 percent at all cost? Every Filipino has that ambition but based on the budgetary resources of the government and base on our present levels of productivity, our goal is to ensure food security for every Filipino," he said.
"If there is a deficiency level or gaps, we have to fill it up. It will be augmented by product from other countries. And I would say there is no self-sufficient country because all the country in the world are interdependent," he added.
Dar said there is sufficient supply of food, except for some commodities which include galungong or small pelagic fishes and refined sugar.
"We have enough food. We only have problem in galunggong and I will also include the effect of Typhoon ''Odette'' which bring down our sugar production," he said.
Dar said last month he saw the need to import 60, 000 metric tons of small pelagic fish to boost supply in the first quarter.
Dar said the damage in sugarcane industry because of Typhoon ''Odette'' reach P1.15 billion.
"As a of Typhoon 'Odette', the supply of sugar went down from 2.099 million metric tons to two million or 2.072 million metric tons this January because of the effect of 'Odette'," he said.
According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration. without imports, the country will only have a balance of refined sugar of 54,355 metric tons.
"Based on the refined sugar consumption study made by the SRA on 2020 and 2021, the average monthly refined sugar withdrawal is around 82,564 metric tons," he said.
"If we do not import, we will not have enough supply for a month, so we have to fill up the two to three months before the start of the milling season," he added.
The Department of Agriculture allowed the Sugar Regulatory Board to import 200,000 metric tons of sugar. But last February, a court in a Negros Occidental town granted a 20-day temporary restraining order against the importation. Robina Asido/DMS
