MANILA — The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. has urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to consider declaring a state of emergency to curb the impact of a looming global food crisis.

According to PCAFI president Danilo Fausto, Marcos faces 3 major problems, namely declining productivity in agriculture, depleting treasury, and low confidence of private sector in expanding their business.

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Fausto said a state of emergency would allow the new administration to direct local government units to set aside a portion of their internal revenue allotment to improve agriculture production.

Under the Mandanas-Garcia ruling, LGUs will get an additional 27 percent or P235 billion in 2022 from their share of taxes from the national government, Fausto said.

"We are proposing that even 10 percent of that money, additional to the LGUs, be directed to food production," he told ANC on Monday.

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To avert the growing food insecurity, PCAFI also proposed the triple cropping of rice, which could boost production to an additional 7.5 million metric tons. The country produced 19.9 million MT of rice last year.

The group is also pushing the creation of a bureau of agriculture cooperative at the Department of Agriculture and mini-agro industrial centers in barangays.

"We really have to be able to produce on our own and less dependent on imports," Fausto said.

The country must also rationalize imports on agricultural commodities, he said.

"We really need to import but what we request is we import only what we need," Fausto added.

As Marcos temporarily takes the helm of the agriculture department, the group expects problems will be addressed.

"We are very happy that the President took the position of Secretary of Agriculture because if it's anybody else, it will have a hard time because it takes the participation of... all government agencies," Fausto said.

"And now we have the President and we are confident and we will be backing him up all the way... so that we can have food for our people."

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