National conference on food and nutrition security held

With the Philippine’s exponential increase in population and rampant poverty, food and nutrition continuous to be a concern. Moreso, production, marketing and trade, food safety, food processing, and farm mechanization contributes to the said issue.

With this, agriculture and food security experts, academicians, LGUs, NGOs, farmers, and consumer groups convened in the National Conference on Food and Nutrition Security organized by the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Interdisciplinary Studies Center on Food Security (UPLB-ISCFS) on 12-13 October 2015 in Muntinlupa City. Themed, “The Philippine Food and Nutrition Security Agenda: Setting Strategic Directions and Actions,” this two-day event aimed to:

1. present the current status of food production, food trade, food security information, nutrition security, research, development, and extension (RDE), governance, and policies in the Philippines;
2. discuss the prevailing issues, imperatives, and challenges including threats besetting food security in the Philippines;
3. define policies to enhance food and nutrition security in the country; and
4. develop RDE programs, policies, capacity building, and strategies to enhance food and nutrition security.

Through this conference, participants were able to share knowledge and experiences on the areas of methodologies for assessing food and nutrition security, production issues on food security, marketing and post-harvest, governance of delivery systems on food and nutrition security, and food safety. Presentations may be downloaded here.

ANGOC Chairman Emeritus Fr. Francis Lucas was invited to provide reactions during the two-day event.