THE government's growing investments in food security remain heavily concentrated in agricultural development, while fragmented programs and weak coordination among agencies make it difficult to determine whether public spending is translating into better access to affordable and nutritious food, a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) found.
The study, titled "Food Security Sectoral Analysis: Strengthening Access to Safe and Nutritious Food for Every Filipino," examined government spending trends from 2015 to 2025 and analyzed the 2026 national budget alongside selected food security indicators.
PIDS Senior Research Fellow Roehlano Briones and Supervising Research Specialist Agnes Kristine Quilinguing said agricultural development appropriations increased from P89 billion in 2015 to P278 billion in 2026, representing an average annual increase of about 11 percent.
Agricultural interventions accounted for roughly 3.4 percent of the national budget, or P231.5 billion, in 2026. Meanwhile, social protection programs related to food security received P68.9 billion, equivalent to 1.01 percent of the national budget.
These programs cover agricultural development initiatives, supplementary feeding, school-based feeding, nutrition supplementation and other anti-hunger interventions.
The findings point to the need for a broader approach to food security that goes beyond increasing agricultural production to address food affordability, nutrition and the effective delivery of social protection programs.
The school-based feeding program was among the fastest-growing allocations, more than doubling in 2026 to P25.7 billion and accounting for more than half of the allocations for social protection programs.
Briones said increased government spending must be accompanied by policies that improve agricultural productivity, support farmers' incomes and keep food affordable.
He called for the right incentives for the private sector, farmers and government agencies under a coherent policy and programming framework.
He also stressed the need to balance domestic production with imports when necessary, while supporting agricultural commodities in which Filipino farmers can compete.
The study identified fragmented responsibilities and uneven budget execution as major obstacles to assessing the effectiveness of government food security interventions.
In 2024, the Department of Social Welfare and Development disbursed 88.1 percent of the appropriations covered by the study, while the Department of Education disbursed 86.2 percent.
The corresponding disbursement rates were considerably lower for the Department of Agriculture at 62.5 percent, the Department of Agrarian Reform at 64.1 percent and the National Nutrition Council at 61 percent.
Quilinguing said improving access to nutritious food was not solely the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture, noting that several national government agencies and local government units were involved in implementing agricultural and social protection programs.
She recommended mapping the agencies involved, establishing a food security budget tag and developing a unified results framework for the 2028 National Expenditure Program to improve coordination and track the impact of government interventions.
Enrique Dela Cruz, executive assistant at the DA, cautioned against relying solely on spending figures to determine whether government interventions were effective.
"You will only get what you are willing to measure," he said, pointing out that annual tracking of obligations and disbursements could obscure longer-term results.
He called for program-level evidence linking actual expenditures and unit costs to changes in agricultural yields, food prices and people's diets.
Dela Cruz also urged policymakers to assess investments in vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish and other nutritious food commodities instead of focusing primarily on rice production and calorie availability.
Novel Bangsal, executive director of the Budget and Tax Research Bureau of the House of Representatives' Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department, meanwhile, stressed the need to link government spending with development targets.
Of the 534 targets under the Philippine Development Plan, 212, or about 40 percent, were off track, he said.
The study recommended strengthening coordination among national government agencies and between national and local governments, alongside a monitoring and evaluation system that tracks inputs, outputs, outcomes and long-term impacts.
It said food security spending should ultimately be assessed against measurable improvements in food availability, accessibility, utilization and stability, rather than budget allocations and program outputs alone.
