|
A SURVEY
last year showed there are more poor Filipinos than
last, and a huge number eat only twice or once a day,
but today’s soaring prices of commodities, especially
rice, have apparently increased that already huge
number, reducing their food intake to a record high.
The
problem is exacerbated by the decision—unassailable
under the circumstances—to take in less nutritious but
cheaper junk food, according to a report released by the
United Nations International Fund for Agricultural
Development (Ifad).
In the
short paper “Soaring Food Prices and the Rural Poor,”
the Ifad noted the same phenomenon is being observed
among the rural poor in other Asian and African
countries.
“Across
the board, households are spending a higher proportion
of their limited incomes on their food needs; they are
consuming smaller quantities, less frequently; and they
are eating cheaper and, in many [but by no means all]
cases, less nutritious foods,” said the Ifad. “In the
Philippines households cope by cutting down the quantity
and quality of food, or number of meals.”
The UN
unit based its report on the responses it received from
its country program managers and other officials in over
40 countries.
As for
poor farmers, the Ifad noted that rising input costs
coupled with disproportional farm-gate prices are
pushing them to shift away from producing for the market
and to planting for home use that require lesser inputs
and thus lower cost for food, although at the sacrifice
of income.
In
effect, higher food prices could make it harder for
developing countries like the Philippines to meet the
Millennium Development Goals of significantly reducing
malnutrition by the year 2015. |
