Poor Pinoys eating less to cope with crisis - UN unit

MANILA, Philippines- The surging prices of rice and other foods in the Philippines and all over the world has forced many families, particularly the poor, to cut down on the quantity and quality of food that they are consuming. In the study “Soaring Food Prices and the Rural Poor" by the International Finance for Agriculture Development, an organization under the United Nations, showed that in many developing nations the the cost of food has hurt the poor particularly those living in the rural areas. "Food buyers, and net food buyers, clearly are suffering the most. Though in some countries, where the increased producer prices are actually official government procurement prices, small farmers risk losing out once more as market intermediaries take the greater part of the increase. This was cited as a problem both in Pakistan and Philippines," IFAD said. "And in the Philippines households cope by cutting down the quantity and quality of food, or number of meals," it added. The IFAD sent out questionnaires to its country programme manager, country presence officers and other colleagues with a request that they provide information on the impact of rising food prices on poor rural people in their countries. Responses were received for over 40 countries from all five IFAD regions. The study has been compiled on the basis of these inputs. "It is clear from the responses received that in almost all developing countries food prices have increased during 2007 and early 2008. In some cases, prices have more than doubled, and in a few countries there have been absolute scarcities of foods available on local markets," the study said. The UN arm added that Filipino respondents said that to survive in this period of high food prices, they are reducing their food intake. Besides this, IFAD said some Filipinos were also being forced to sell their lands owing to the lack of capital to till the lands awarded them through the agrarian reform program. IFAD also noted that in the Philippines, although rice prices are soaring, gains were being made most by the middlemen. The World Bank earlier projected that the price of rice for this year will rise by 55 percent, on top of the 7 percent it had in 2007. The latest report of the government also showed that consumer prices in the Philippines jumped 6.4 percent, way above the target of between 3 percent and 5 percent. - Cheryl Arcibal, GMANews.TV