The Philippines is becoming increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity with its ranking on the latest Global Food Security Index dropping to 79th out of 109 countries this year from 74th last year.
With a score of 47.3 out of 100 points, the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit showed that the Philippines trailed behind countries like Ghana (47.9), Pakistan (47.8) and Uzbekistan (47.5), although it performed better than Myanmar (44.8), Nepal (44.5) and Senegal (44.2).
The report said Ireland topped the 2017 index with a score of 85.6. It was followed by the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, France, Canada, and Sweden.
The EIU ranked countries according to four major indicators, namely food affordability, availability, quality and safety, and natural resources and resilience, where the Philippines ranked 77th, 80th, 69th, and 101st, respectively.
Citing the 1996 World Food Summit, EIU defined food security as “the state in which people at all times have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life.”
In Asean, the Philippines was sixth of the 10 members, trailing behind Singapore (74.7), Malaysia (66.2), Thailand (58.3), Vietnam (54.0), and Indonesia (51.3). It managed to fare better than Myanmar, Cambodia (43.3), and Laos (33.1).
For the Philippines, corruption and lack of public expenditure on agricultural research and development were some of the country’s weaknesses cited by the GFSI.