Greenpeace: Food security should be bets’ priority

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Greenpeace Southeast Asia Philippines said on Saturday the presidential aspirants should make safe food and food security a campaign platform, in light of the impact of the extreme weather on agriculture and commercial farming practices.

Representatives of the group were here on Saturday  to launch its “i am hampaslupa” national campaign at the Baguio Cathedral, which encourages young voters to help “secure the future of our food” by making agriculture a national election issue.

“Hampaslupa” is a term often used pejoratively to refer to the dregs of the earth, good-for-nothing bums, or poor people who will never amount to anything.

The environment group is using the term to refer to farmers or magsasaka. Virginia Benosa-Lloren, the group’s media campaigner said “farmers or the ‘hampaslupa’ need to get respect and more aid from the government.”

Government budgets have been allocated primarily for rice and corn, leaving smaller funds for other crops, she said.

To sustain the soil, farmers need to diversify their cropping patterns by planting other kinds of food, Lloren said, which the next president must encourage to allow farmers to produce food for everyone.

Greenpeace supported the Aquino administration’s earlier plan to encourage Filipinos to make corn or sweet potatoes a replacement staple food to reduce the pressure on rice farmers, she said.

However, the alternative staple food campaign failed to change Filipinos’ consumption habits, Lloren said.

A Greenpeace fact sheet says: “The future of our food lies not just in ensuring we have enough. But rests on how we produce our food. Was the soil compromised? Is the food free of pesticides? Was the food genetically modified? Were animals and insects harmed in producing the food?”

“By eating food, we participate in the farming [cycle] and reaffirm the value and role of farmers [in society],” it said.

The campaign is aimed at drawing the attention of young voters, Lloren said, for whom future policies and programs should be designed.

Volunteers were told to write down how they planned to change the way food production is treated, which they showed to reporters.