PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan – The National Food Authority (NFA) is stepping up its campaign for food guardians in Palawan to curb rice wastage and help in ensuring that the grain is available, accessible, visible, and affordable in public markets.
NFA-Palawan information officer Roxanne Bunoan informed the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Friday morning that currently, only 11,511 Palaweños have signed up so far, for the campaign that was started in September 2015.
“This is a serious campaign where food guardians are expected not to waste rice; support in making sure that rice is available, accessible, affordable and visible in public markets; and should know austere food handling measures so that rice will be safe for the public to consume,” Bunoan said.
The NFA campaign also calls for food guardians to actively report to the Bantay Bigas Hotline 09064363133 or its social media accounts any area in the city and the province of Palawan where its rice is being sold improperly, according to her.
According to the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), every day, each Filipino wastes an average of two tablespoons of rice, which could add up to 3.3 kilograms a year.
With the over 100 million population of the country, the rice wastage could reach up to 330,000 metric tons every year (worth around Php27 million daily or Php10 billion yearly).
Bunoan said to prevent avoidable food loss in Palawan, the NFA is continuing its campaign for volunteer food guardians who can help remind the public on the importance of rice and encourage the people not to waste it.
She said that Palaweños, every time they eat at home with their families, or in restaurants, should be conscious enough to only get rice portions they can manage to consume to avoid wasting food.
The NFA is taking its role of being the guardian of food security seriously – giving it equal weight as national security itself. This is the essence, she said, of the #1for100iNFAntry campaign.
In 2016, the NFA announced that it exceeded its target to gather 1 million food guardian volunteers across the country to raise the awareness of Filipinos to the basic responsibility of taking good care of their staple food.
Despite this, NFA-Palawan OIC Provincial Manager Ferlita Ancheta said it will remain campaigning for more volunteers to continue the advocacy of best practices for ensuring food security for the 100 million Filipinos. (PNA)
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