Tugon Kabuhayan, a food advocacy group, has once again appealed to local government units (LGUs) to buy local farmers’ agricultural products amid tightened quarantine restrictions.
According to Asis Perez, Tugon Kabuhayan’s chairperson, the new guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) like prohibiting dine-in in restaurants and imposing granular lockdown on some communities will affect the income of our farmers since “whatever decrease in consumption will affect the producers.”
Instead of buying canned goods and processed food products for their constituents, local chief executives can buy fresh vegetables and fish from local farmers.
“Para ‘yung perceived effect in the decline in consumption as a result of closure ng mga dine-in restaurants ay ma-compensate naman in the increase in the procurement of the local government to support ‘yung mga tao na nasa localized lockdowns (So that the perceived effect in the decline in consumption as a result of closure of dine-in restaurants will be compensated in the increase in the procurement of the local government to support people in localized lockdowns),” explained Perez.
Department of Agriculture (DA) Assistant Secretary Noel Reyes expressed hopes that LGUs will take the initiative as they “have been encouraging local government units to buy directly from their farmers, and farmers for their food packs.”
Earlier, the agency emphasized buying local farmers’ produce will not only help their livelihood, but will also promote healthy food consumption in Filipino households.
Reyes said LGUs can coordinate with the DA’s regional field offices to link them to various farmers’ cooperatives.
In line with this, the DA urged LGUs to ensure unhampered movement of agricultural-fishery products, farm inputs, activities and personnel in the food value chain. -Cleizl Pardilla
