The threat of hunger is as real as the threat of Covid-19.

Thus, is the new battlecry of the Department of Agriculture (DA) as it pursues initiatives along with other government agencies to surmount the huge challenges, particularly in ensuring continued supply of adequate food at reasonable prices to consumers nationwide, during this national state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We are heartened that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) during our April 6 teleconference has officially considered and declared that farmers, fishers, agri-fishery industry stakeholders, and other workers in the food value chain as 'frontliners,' and that their movement should remain unhampered," said agriculture secretary William Dar.

"Indeed, now more than ever, we consider them as our food security ‘frontliners,’ who will play a crucial part in our fight against Covid-19. That’s why it is important that we continue to empower them to ensure continued production and delivery of food to our countrymen,” the DA chief added.

"We cannot emphasize enough the importance of our farmers and fishers, and other players in the food value chain, in ensuring stable food supply, especially to Metro Manila and other urban centers, in this challenging time amid the enhanced community quarantine or ECQ due to Covid-19," secretary Dar said.

"With their unhampered movement, they can go on their farming and fishing chores to sustain food production, while workers in food manufacturing facilities will continue to churn out various processed products," he concluded. ###