RETIRED University of the Philippines Los Baños professor and agricultural scientist Teodoro Mendoza said that the country’s food security cannot be achieved by increasing farm production alone but requires food nationalism, rural transformation, and agro-industrialization.
Mendoza said the Philippines must rebuild its food system by prioritizing local production, strengthening rural communities, and developing industries that enable farmers to earn beyond primary agricultural production.
”Food nationalism is the engine, rural transformation is the road, and industrialization is the vehicle” toward national self-reliance and sovereign development, Mendoza said during the Frank Pascual Annual Memorial Lecture.
He defined food nationalism as “growing, eating, and protecting local food” to lessen the country’s dependence on imported agricultural products and foreign control over the food supply.
Mendoza said food security is inseparable from national security, noting that a nation unable to feed its own people cannot achieve genuine sovereignty.
He disputed the notion that the sector’s declining share of the country’s gross domestic product reflects its actual economic value. Mendoza said agriculture’s contribution becomes significantly larger when the entire food system — including food processing, distribution, and related industries — is taken into account.
Mendoza warned that excessive reliance on food imports deprives farmers of economic opportunities throughout the agricultural value chain, affecting not only producers but also rural families and businesses that depend on farming-related livelihoods.
He criticized the country’s heavy dependence on monocropping, particularly rice cultivation, saying it limits farmers’ earning potential.
”You will remain poor forever if you are a monocrop farmer,” Mendoza said, adding the better options are integrated and diversified farming systems that provide multiple sources of income.
Citing the industry’s structural problems, Mendoza noted that the average rice farm in the Philippines measures only about 0.8 hectares and generates roughly P48,000 in annual income, leaving many farming households below the poverty threshold.
He said rural transformation should extend beyond agriculture by improving infrastructure, education, and employment opportunities so rural communities can become economically sustainable.
Mendoza expounded on the merits of agro-industrialization, where farmers participate in food processing, packaging, and manufacturing instead of remaining suppliers of raw agricultural products. He said community-based industries would allow more income and jobs to remain in rural areas.
He expressed concern over the country’s limited investment in science and technology, urging the government to support Filipino researchers and innovators so the Philippines can become a technology developer rather than merely a technology user.
Mendoza said that many Filipino farmers are already in their late 50s and 60s. He called for greater participation of young people in agriculture through education, technological innovation, and expanded livelihood opportunities.
He said the country should prioritize local harvests, protect farmers from unfair import competition, promote indigenous food consumption, and reduce dependence on imported food to build a more secure, self-reliant, and resilient agricultural sector.