Members of the National Agriculture and Fisheries (NAF) Council, which is composed of key government agencies, local government units, private sector entities, non-government organizations, and people’s organizations, expressed their support on the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) price control strategies by adopting NAF Council Resolution No. 1 Series of 2021 during the combined face-to-face and online meeting on January 21, 2021 in Quezon City.

Also known as “A MANIFESTO OF SUPPORT TO THE PRICE CONTROL STRATEGIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO STABILIZE FOOD SUPPLY AND PRICES DURING CRISIS OR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS”, the said resolution was unanimously adopted by the NAF Council and support DA in achieving food security, end hunger, improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture as prescribed under United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 where the Philippines is a member country.

SDG 2 targets provide that governments shall adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives, and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.

The African Swine Fever (ASF) which affects the Philippines swine population especially in Luzon and Mindanao, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic are just some of the major challenges that DA is currently facing which disrupt the agri-fishery supply chain.

Combined with the rising prices of major food commodities, DA will craft different strategies to stabilize the food supply and prices in the country under the “One DA” Holistic Approach 2021 framework which include the setting of price ceiling or price floor/support for basic food commodities particularly fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry, livestock, and meat.

Republic Act (RA) 7581 as amended by RA 10623, also known as the “Price Act,” declares the need to ensure the availability of basic necessities, particularly food commodities, at reasonable prices at all times without denying legitimate business a fair return on investment, especially during periods of calamity, state of emergency, widespread illegal price manipulation and other similar situations which is the legal basis of DA for imposing these price control measures to stabilize food supply and prices during crisis or emergency situations.

DA shall conduct further stakeholders’ consultations on the said price control measures to gather more support and inputs to facilitate the effective implementation. 

During the said meeting, DA Secretary William Dar assured the participants that more passion, more energy will be poured into the battle against ASF.

“Let’s do this as a nation,” Dar added.

###CCB