BACOLOD CITY: Negros Occidental is bracing for a world food crisis expected by experts to happen later this year.

Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said that it is something “that we should address.”

“We have preliminary talks about it. I’ve already sounded off the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist on their recommendations,” Lacson said.

The governor committed to “do our best to avoid a food shortage. This is not only in Negros Occidental but worldwide. These are difficult times that we are about to face and we are already facing,” he pointed out.

Lacson also said that Negros cannot totally say it is 100 percent self-sufficient in terms of food production.

For the food staple rice, for instance, he said that if the National Food Authority cannot fulfill the consumption of Negros Occidental “it is the private sector that provides the supply.”

“There are always food products that enter the province whether it’s meat or chicken. We should be careful where these products are coming from, especially swine,” he also said.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar warned that consumers will feel more of the food crisis toward the last few months of 2022 as the months-long standoff between Ukraine and Russia continues to disrupt the shipment of food items across the globe.

“We will feel more of that [food crisis in] the last quarter of the year. That’s when you can feel most of the impact,” Dar pointed out.

Earlier, Dar urged the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to ensure unimpeded movement of food products as some countries already restricted exports of agricultural commodities as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of supply chain disruptions.

Dar, in a letter to FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, appealed to the FAO to “spearhead another global appeal to various countries to keep unhampered the movement of food and agricultural inputs as part of the global effort to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agriculture and food systems.”

According to a live tracker developed by the international agricultural research center International Food Policy Research Institute, 20 countries have imposed export restrictions on food products.

“The Philippines, being import-reliant as local food production, does not fully meet population demand, is most vulnerable, along with other developing countries,” the DA said.