QUEZON CITY, Sep. 29 — Member economies of the Asia-Pacific economic region forged a stronger public-private partnership which seeks to reduce, if not eliminate, food losses in the supply chain of fishery and livestock, in one of the meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Security Week.
During a seminar organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Chinese Taipei and the Ministry for Primary Industries of New Zealand with the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) recently, stakeholders from both the public and the private sectors exchanged ideas and experiences to generate policy recommendations, action plans, and effective methodologies to provide solutions to the global problem on food losses.
With the growing concern for food loss, the Philippines, along with other economies, deem it necessary to address the issues which contribute to food loss and come up with policies and measures that will address wastage in the agriculture sector, specifically within the livestock and fishing industries.
PhilMech Director Rex L. Bingabing said there is a need to ensure sufficient supply of affordable, safe and good quality food.
“With the additional new challenges in food production such as climate change, decreasing production area and depletion of natural resources, food loss and food waste must be given serious attention,” he added.
Bingabing added that APEC economies have a big role in addressing these challenges since majority of the total global food production comes from the APEC region. “Cooperation of different economies is important,” he said.
As concerned institutions recognize that the problem on food loss and wastage is not the sole problem of the government alone, the private sector is called upon to take action and contribute to the long-term solution.
Meanwhile, according to Ms. Dong-Chong Hsiou, who is the deputy director-general of the Department of International Affairs, Council of Agriculture in Chinese Taipei, the private sector plays a critical role in reducing losses along the supply chain.
“We are positive that this seminar will give value to the inputs and participation of the private sector, and so we encourage you to provide us with more creative and innovative ideas and solutions,” Hsiou said.
About 80 delegates from both public and private sectors exchanged information on basic research, current trends, business models, and postharvest technologies in the fishery and livestock industry during the one-day seminar.
Foreign delegates came from Chile, People’s Republic of China, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, The United States, and Vietnam.
From September 27-October 6, 2015, Iloilo City will host a series of food security meetings expected to gather more than 900 delegates, including High Level Policy Dialogues on Agricultural Biotechnology, as well as Food Security and Blue Economy. (PhilMech/DA)
