Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama talks with CDN Digital Reporter Wenilyn Sabalo during the 2023 Sinulog Festival. | Wenilyn Sabalo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is set to call for a Food Security Summit soon as a measure to address food supply concerns amid the soaring inflation rate in the city and in the country.
Rama said the would-be Food Security Summit will gather producers from the backyard, farms, and agro-industries in the city center who will then help the city government draft a Food Security Masterplan.
The Masterplan will lay the foundation for the sustainability of food supply with stable prices.
The city government will also set up a research committee (to be headed by someone who has experience working in the National Economic and Development Authority) whose members will continuously study and address supply and demand gaps in the city.
PRICE MONITORING/ PRICE WATCH
In a press conference on Friday, March 24, 2023, Rama said his administration will do price monitoring and price watch, that will involve the city’s citizens down to every household.
“The City will monitor more closely all market operations. The City will (also) identify more idle lands, and encourage more cooperatives and partners through PPP to convert these areas to viable agro-tourism and agro-industrial zones. We will tap technologies to increase productivity,” Rama said in a statement.
Rama said these measures are necessary to safeguard the city from the impact of the soaring inflation rate in the country.
He said he will also tap former Cebu City Councilor Alvin Dizon for this endeavor knowing that the former councilor passed several ordinances on food security.
CEBU CITY’S INFLATION RATE
The latest record from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that Cebu City’s inflation rate accelerated to 5.7 percent in February 2023, from 4.5 percent in January 2023.
In February 2022, the inflation rate in the city stood at 1.7 percent
Moreover, Rama also wants to build more farm-to-market roads and pursue the cable car system for mass transport to the upland barangays.
“These will reduce substantially the cost in the transportation of products to the urban lowland. Lesser cost in terms of transportation means lesser prices of our food products,” he added.
The mayor also aims to secure the flow of food and other goods from elsewhere in the Visayas and Mindanao, and from Cebu to these localities, to ensure their availability. /rcg
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