President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has directed that “strategic agriculture measures” be put into effect right away to prevent an impending agriculture and food crisis.

Today, July 25, is the first State of the Nation Address (SONA), and Marcos, who recently took over the helm of the Department of Agriculture (DA), is anticipated to outline his plan for ensuring food security.

In a recent interview, Rodriguez said, “It is his thrust, it is his vision for us not only to have food security but food sovereignty. Meaning, if we can feed ourselves as a nation, if we can feed ourselves as Filipinos, I think we are on our way to where we want to be, much like where our neighbors are.”

He claimed that the President ended up taking over the DA because he “is aware of the impending food price crisis and probably food supply crisis.”

The coronavirus pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change, and oil price hikes are among the factors driving global food insecurity, according to press secretary Rose Beatrix “Trixie” Cruz-Angeles.

Cruz-Angeles reassured the populace that the Marcos administration is prepared to enhance food production and stabilize the food sources.

She declared, “Gaya nang nasabi na ni President Marcos, mangangailangan ‘yan ng agarang tugon, at dapat agaran ding simulan ang pangmatagalang mga solusyon (Just like what President Marcos said, that will be immediately addressed by looking for long-term solutions)” she said.

According to Marcos, efforts made by his administration to combat poverty and hunger should switch from a “import-centric in which we rely heavily on importation of food products to feed the people, to production-centric in which our food requirements will be free from the dictates of market forces.”

He claimed that the only way the nation could obtain food security and sufficiency was by strengthening its agricultural sector.