Only 7% of Filipinos say most of food is home-produced — SWS

SWS logo / Reuters photo

MANILA, Philippines — Only a tiny portion of the country’s population — seven percent — said that most of their food is homegrown or produced within their residences, a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Thirty-four percent of respondents to the December 10–14, 2022 SWS survey, released Friday, said they get some food from their backyard.

In contrast, most respondents, or 58 percent — almost six in every ten Filipinos — said that none of their food is home-produced.

Most people who stated they get some of their food from their gardens also grow crops, which they use most often for their meals.

“Families who say that at least a small part of their food is home-produced were further asked what type of food they produced. 87% said they planted crops, 41% raised livestock, and 7% farmed fish,” SWS said in its report.

“These categories total more than 100% since families could name more than one category,” it added.

Expectedly, a considerable chunk of the respondents from Metro Manila — a staggering 96 percent — said that their meals do not come from their households.  Only one percent of National Capital Region residents noted that a big part of their food is homegrown, while three percent said a small part of their meals come from the backyard.

“Likewise, families who say that a small part of their food is home-produced were fewer in Metro Manila (3%) than in the Visayas (45%), Mindanao (42%), and Balance Luzon (35%). Conversely, more families in Metro Manila (96%) say that none of their food is home-produced compared to Balance Luzon (57%), the Visayas (48%), and Mindanao (48%),” SWS noted.

“More families in rural areas than in urban areas have home-produced food. In December 2022, more families in rural areas (12%) than in urban areas (2%) said that a big part of their food is home-produced. Likewise, more families in rural areas (49%) than in urban areas (20%) said that a small part of their food is home-produced. Conversely, more families in urban areas (78%) than in rural areas (39%) say that none of their food is home-produced,” it added.

The SWS also found out that while the issue of whether the food was homegrown did not play a factor in hunger rates, more families who did not experience involuntary hunger said that a portion of their meals came from home-produced food.

The polling firm was referring to the same survey, which stated that 11.8 percent of Filipino families, or around three million, experienced involuntary hunger or “being hungry and not having anything to eat” at least once in the last three months starting from the survey date.

According to SWS, seven percent of families who had not experienced involuntary hunger and another seven percent who did not go hungry credited home-produced food as their most significant source of raw food products.

“However, more families who had not experienced involuntary hunger (35%) say that a small part of their food is home-produced than families who had experienced hunger (27%). Conversely, more families who experienced hunger (65%) say that none of their food is home-produced than families who have not. (57%),” they added.

READ: SWS: 3M families experienced hunger in 4th qtr 

READ: SWS: Filipinos experiencing involuntary hunger slightly increases 

The SWS said they conducted the survey using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults, segregated into 300 from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The polling firm maintained sampling error margins of ±2.8% for national percentages and ±5.7% each for the locales.

JPV/abc