Food aid providers told: Just add sugar

MANILA, Philippines — Local governments are now encouraged to include sugar in relief packages they are tasked to distribute to their constituents during the enhanced community quarantine over Luzon.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has approved a recommendation by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ask local officials to add the sweetener to the fare of food items that are handed out, usually consisting of rice, canned goods and instant noodles.

The move is intended to support the livelihood of sugar farmers and the local sugar industry, Nograles said on Saturday,

Urban agriculture

Earlier, the DA warned of an artificial shortage of sugar leading to price increases, after two sugar mills in Bukidnon were shut down with the imposition of a quarantine on the Mindanao province.

But the two mills, which produce 82 percent of sugar in Mindanao, were allowed to reopen on April 20.

Also on Saturday’s “Laging Handa” press briefing, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the department was looking at promoting urban agriculture to ensure household food security.

The DA would provide seedlings for vegetables that could be harvested in a month or two, said Dar, adding it was advisable for Metro Manila households to grow crops in available spaces even with a regular supply of vegetables from the provinces.

Under the DA’s “Plant, Plant, Plant” program, he said, technologies can be made available to interested homeowners.

Under another component of the program, Dar said, the DA is preparing to distribute seeds and other inputs for commercial farming in the different regions, in time for the planting of rice during the wet season.

The government’s support for rice production now covers 2.7 million hectares nationwide, up from the previous 1.5 million ha, Dar said.

The project aims to increase the country’s rice sufficiency level to 93 percent by the end of the year, he said.

—Leila B. Salaverria