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Pernia urges gov't to boost agriculture to mitigate rising food costs

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Farmers in Barangay Baculud in Ilagan, Isabela till and plant vegetables that grow around a month for a quicker harvest on November 21, 2020. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/01/05/20201121-farmers-isabela-md-21.jpg"/><figcaption>Farmers in Barangay Baculud in Ilagan, Isabela till and plant vegetables that grow around a month for a quicker harvest on November 21, 2020. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - The Philippines must boost its agriculture sector to temper the rising costs of food items as inflation continues to surge, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said on Thursday.</p><p>Inflation reached 8.1 percent in December, largely due to higher prices of vegetables such as onions, and necessities like meat, sugar, fish and flour, among others, government data showed. December&#x27;s total is the highest since November 2008. </p><p>&quot;Obviously the demand is very strong because the economy is recovering at the same time our supply has been constrained which is really ironic because we’re an agricultural country. The items registering high inflation rate are agricultural products like onions, like rice, like corn, fish and chicken - these are the basic products,&quot; Pernia told ANC. </p><p>&quot;Agriculture needs to be developed to the fullest. In other countries, agriculture has been given a lot of attention,&quot; he added.</p><p>In the Philippines, agriculture is contributing only 2 to 3 percent to the economy as of this time, Pernia said, comparing it to the service sector which makes up 65 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).</p><p>Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr remains as the Agriculture chief. </p><p>The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) earlier urged the President to <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/23/22/farmers-group-urges-marcos-to-quit-as-agri-chief">step down</a> as agency chief and appoint a full-time DA Secretary. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/05/23/inflation-quickens-further-to-81-percent-in-december">Inflation quickens further to 8.1 percent in December on back of higher vegetable prices</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/07/22/world-bank-urges-ph-to-hike-investments-in-agri">World Bank urges Philippines to hike investments in agriculture</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/18/22/rice-farmers-continue-to-struggle-with-low-selling-prices-and-high-fertilizer-cost">Rice farmers continue to struggle with low selling prices and high fertilizer cost</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2404369" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Philippines must boost its agriculture sector to temper the rising costs of food items as inflation continues to surge, former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said on Thursday.