The Department of Agriculture (DA) — working with government agency partners and stakeholders within the Task Group on Food Security of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) — will continue to work on keeping food prices affordable and accessible, as the country continues to face the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 crisis.
Economic managers and Malacañang attributed the decline in inflation rate in August 2020 to the stable prices of basic commodities, despite the basket of selected goods and services dropped to 2.4% from 2.7% in the previous month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Agriculture Secretary William Dar said, “this shows that the ‘whole of nation approach’ advocated by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is really working and effective in attaining desired results.”
“We at the entire DA will continue to pursue vigorous partnerships with the local government units (LGUs), farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs), the private sector, and major agri-fishery industry players,” he added.
“Rest assured that we will further elevate our efforts to pursue our major interventions to ensure adequate, accessible, and affordable food to all Filipino families during this Covid-19 pandemic and onto the new normal,” the DA chief added.
“We thank Presidential spokesperson secretary Harry Roque for saying that Malacañang was encouraged over the agriculture sector’s resilience, proving the effectiveness of the Duterte administration’s policies and programs for farmers and fisherfolk,” Secretary Dar said.
Secretary Roque further said: “We will sustain these programs to boost agricultural production in the long-term.”
For his part, acting socioeconomic planning secretary Karl Kendrick Chua pointed to improving the supply chain will ensure low and stable inflation in the country amid the pandemic and impending typhoons.
Key strategies being pushed include “boosting agricultural production, both in the rural and urban areas; managing the supply and allocation of agricultural commodities; and facilitating the delivery of vegetables and other agricultural commodities to Metro Manila and other regions,” Secretary Chua said.
“Kami sa Kagawaran ng Pagsasaka ay patuloy na magpapatupad ng mga programa, lalung-lalo na ang ‘Plant, Plant, Plant program’ upang makamit natin ang masaganang ani ng mga pagkain para sa ating mga kababayan at mataas na kita para sa ating mga magsasaka at mangingisda,” concluded Secretary Dar. ### (DA StratComms)
