University of Caloocan City__________

An Analysis paper on

Strengthening Food Security as a Way to Lessen Extreme Poverty and Hunger in

the Philippines

A Requirement Paper for the Midterm Period on the Contemporary Works

Submitted by: Group 3

Leader: Siso, Dary Jr.

Assistant Leader:

Members:

Submitted to:

Prof. Carmelita C. Kilala

The objectives of the Analysis are the following:

1. Diminish poverty.
2. To sustain enough resources.
• to know what things must be done in order to achieve food security.
• to be knowledgable about the food security in the Philippines.
• to come up with the effective solution on how to decrease food scarcity.

Question:
• What are the main causes of poverty in the Philippines?

Introduction:
One of the major problems nowadays is poverty. It is the primary cause of food
shortage and worse, lack of food among families globally. Food is very important. It is
the source of our strength as we go through the day. Some families eat regularly but
some do not. Food security should be emphasize today as we experience scarcity in
food. We need to have sufficient food in our daily basis, in order to survive the day.
Well, a lot of problems arise, yet we have to focus on the most basic- Food security.

First of all, let's define first food security. Global food security means delivering
sufficient food to the entire world population. It is defined delivering sufficient food, that
means with wise decision making, with proper concern, sufficiently, no exceeds but just
the exact needs. According to (Breene, 2016) the demand for food will be 60% greater
than it is today and the challenge of food security requires to feed 9 billion people by
2050. We will experience scarcity of food when it is 2050. Security of food also means
the sustainability of society such as population growth, climate change, water scarcity,
and agriculture. According to (Breene 2016) India is the second biggest producer of fruits
and vegetables in the world. Yet according to the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations, some 194 million Indian are undernourished, and it is the
largest number of hungry people in any single country. Meaning they are one of the
biggest supplier but still they lack of food which is very ironic. An estimated of 15.2% of
Indian's population is malnourished.

But perhaps the closest aspect of human life associated with food security is the
environment. It is the source of our food, it is where fruits and vegetables can be found
and also edible animals.The challenges of food security can be traced to the protection
of environment. According to (Diamond 2006) A major environmental problem is the
destruction of natural habitats, particularly through deforestation. Industrial fishing has
contributed to a significant destruction of marine life and ecosystems (Goldburg 2008.)

Some of the countries living in the dessert may also encounter challenge in environment,
according to (Conca 2006) the decline in the availability of fresh water is a significant
enviromental challenges. The problem is further intensified by the consumption of "virtual
water," wherein people inadvertently use up water from elsewhere in the world through
the consumption of water-intensive products (Ritzer, 2015). The destruction of the water
ecosystem may lead to the creation of "climate refugees, people who are forced to
migrate due to lack of access to water or due to flooding" (Ritzer 2015, p 211). "Every
drop counts" this should be putted on our mindset in terms of water, many suffers of
lacking this supply yet we are keeping to waste clean water, many got thirst but we are
just playing with this issue, many knows about it , many heard it, but still many people are
staying to be blind. 77% of the surface of our world is water but only plenty of it can be
drunk. We need to use wisely, for others really need it badly.

Pollution through toxic chemicals has had a long-term impact on the environment.
The use of persistent organic pollutants (POPS) has led to significant industrial pollution
(Dinham, 2007). Avoiding this kind of chemicals could be one of the solution for us to
avoid destruction of environment which is the source of food, for the sake of many we
need to sacrifice.

Greenhouse gases contributes greatly to global warming, this is why the icebergs
melts, that causes the ocean level to rise, in this cause it makes environment get flooded
and causes to destruct, reduces alkalinity of the oceans.
 These are openers as for discussion on Strengthening food security in the
Philippines. Let us take a closer look as we narrow it down to our beloved country and
discover steps to be done in order to achieve the objectives listed above.

Discussion:

We all know that Philippines is a developing country. As a matter of fact, our

country has already proven itself when it comes to different areas; may it be in Sports,
Academics, Talent shows and many other areas that shows the very good potential of
our Motherland.

Yet, like many countries in the world, we face a major problem that has been
battled throughout the years- extreme poverty and hunger.

Hunger is usually understood as uncomfortable or painful sensation caused by

insufficient food energy consumption. Scientifically, hunger is referred to as good
deprivation; making it the most popular result of extreme poverty that most of our
countrymen experience today. Simply put, all hungry people are food insecure, but not all
food insecure people are hungry, as there are other causes of food insecurity, including
those due to poor intake of micro-nutrients. This results to malnutrition, which according
to Merriam Webster Dictionary, is an unhealthy condition that results from not eating
enough healthy food.

But the big question is, why is the

Philippines still hungry? Ironically, it is an
agricultural country which supposes to
supply its primary needs when it comes to
food. Well, there are three major aspects
which hinder to achieve food security;
Environmetal Health, Social & Human
Health and Economic Vitality.
 Food processing, Distribution and Marketing are affected by the social status of a
person. There are so many issues regarding to Social status but the most prominent is
hoarding. Hoarding is an act of hiding a supply or accumulation that is carefully guarded
for preservation, future use, etc. Businessmen use this opportunity to gain higher
income. This affects the food supply in our country, thus a cause of food scarcity.
Products, mainly rice become more expensive which makes it hard for the people to
buy. In addition, food consumption affects Human health and Economic vitality which
results to scarcity, hunger and malnutrition.

Prior to food scarcity, our country is experiencing rice production shortage

because the National Food Authority diverted P5 billion worth of government subsidy
from the food security program to the payment of loans. Subsidy is very important for
the security of a balance economy. The commission on Audit (COA) said that if only the
NFA spent the money on incentives for farmers, it would have encouraged them to sell
their produce to the government. Angara said, “The government has appropriated huge
amount of funds to subsidize rice. Are we sure that the poorest Filipino families are
benefitting from these subsidies? Rice is the most important staple food for every
Filipino family. The supply of rice should be ensured and is made affordable to ordinary
citizens,” The rice crisis in Zamboanga has been resolved through quick response from
the National Food Authority (NFA) that boozed its food security stocks from the onset of
the sudden increase in commercial rice prices, bringing in supplies from other regions,
to increase its market injection from 2,000 to 4,000 bags a day or about 80% of the
region's 5,340 bags daily rice requirement .The rice crisis in Zamboanga has been
declared solved, but NFA continues to distribute its P27/kilogram well-milled rice in the
market even as cheaper commercial rice stocks are also flooding in (Rappler,2018).

Having knowledge on these, there are things that we can still do to lessen the
hunger and poverty.

1. More jobs connected to producing food

2. Increase fund in agriculture
3. Have more trainings and specializations regarding food production
4. Go back to basics of values and virtues
 When almost everyone says that poverty is a major problem that can never be
solved, we should believe that nothing is impossible. Our country could be alleviated
from this if we just unite and get rid of our selfish desires. We should focus more on
what is most important- the needs of people. We should hold that hunger and poverty
can be eradicated if and only if we help each other and trust God that this will all be over
soon.
Objectives: