BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Amidst a looming food crisis, Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday said that President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is giving priority to the agricultural sector, after the announcement that he will temporarily assume the post of Agriculture secretary.
I think he is just wants to tell us that he is really giving agriculture a priority, we being an agricultural country, Lacson said.
Marcos made the announcement weeks after the Department of Agriculture warned of a looming food crisis in the coming months because COVID-19 pandemic effects on the economy, rising fuel prices and conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
If the president leads DA, he can make a decision which becomes executory right away, Lacson said.
Marcos earlier said that problem in agriculture is severe enough to prompt him to take the portfolio of Secretary of Agriculture, at least for now.
The DA forecast was also shared by the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI).
PCAFI president Danilo Fausto said many problems around the world – particularly the Ukraine-Russia crisis – will take a toll on domestic food supplies, noting that a lot of countries are banning exports to the Philippines in order to protect their own economic and food security.*
