Second of two parts
HOW do we transform our food system into one that can sustain the needs of current and future generations by providing accessible, affordable, and nutritious food?
The answer is to shift toward regenerative and resilient agriculture.
This will require us to move away from the view or mindset that agricultural development is primarily about increasing productivity.
Under the current paradigm — which must change — increasing crop production has largely come at the expense of regenerating land and water resources. The result is degraded soils and contaminated and depleted water resources that may no longer be able to sustain food production over the medium to long term unless we make the shift to regenerative and resilient agriculture.
With weather and climatic conditions becoming increasingly extreme, characterized by worsening droughts and more destructive typhoons, we must act with urgency in transitioning to a more sustainable and holistic food production system.
The current geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have also exposed how dependent our country's agricultural sector is on imported inputs, particularly inorganic fertilizers.
The Philippines is already a net food importer, and the fact that we import more than 90 percent of the country's inorganic fertilizer requirements should serve as a wake-up call.
Shifting to a regenerative and resilient food production system does not require rocket science or an army of PhDs because restoring soil health, enhancing biodiversity, improving water retention, increasing carbon sequestration, and strengthening ecosystem services are not overly complex solutions.
However, the combined impact of these solutions will generate exponentially greater benefits in creating a regenerative and resilient food production system.
Increased food production should not be the sole end goal, as resilient agriculture also enables farming communities to withstand climatic shocks, market disruptions, and emerging risks.
When it comes to making our food system resilient, we must accelerate the adoption of climate-resilient technologies, diversified farming systems, sustainable land management practices, and nature-based solutions.
Resilience must become embedded across the entire food system — from production to consumption.
Together, regenerative and resilient agriculture can simultaneously deliver higher productivity, improved farm profitability, enhanced ecosystem health, greater climate adaptation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and long-term sustainability.
Hence, the future of Philippine agriculture depends not only on producing more, but on producing better while restoring the ecological foundations of production.
The Food–Energy–Water–Environment Nexus
However, food systems cannot be transformed in isolation because agriculture depends on water, while water systems require energy. Furthermore, energy production affects ecosystems, and environmental conditions determine agricultural productivity.
These interconnections form what is increasingly recognized as the Food–Energy–Water–Environment Nexus, which provides a systems approach to sustainable development.
This means that a decision affecting water influences food production, while a decision affecting energy affects irrigation, processing, and logistics.
In turn, environmental degradation undermines all three systems simultaneously.
Future policies must therefore move beyond sectoral silos. We need integrated planning that recognizes the interdependence of food, energy, water, and environmental systems.
Science has a crucial role to play in generating the evidence, models, and decision-support tools that enable governments and stakeholders to manage these trade-offs effectively.
As we move forward in pursuing a regenerative and resilient food system, we must adopt systems thinking as the way forward, where nexus-based governance becomes the norm.
Smallholders at the center of transformation
For many years, I have witnessed how well-intentioned programs with substantial funding have failed simply because the intended beneficiaries — the smallholder food producers — were not placed at the center of these initiatives.
Worse, there have been instances where smallholder producers were treated merely as cogs in a system designed to increase overall agricultural production.
Enough of that.
In the Philippines, smallholders remain the backbone of agriculture, yet they continue to face significant challenges: limited access to technology, inadequate financing, weak market participation, climate vulnerability, insufficient extension services, and low profitability.
Therefore, our objective in transitioning smallholder food producers to resilient agriculture must be clear: to move them beyond subsistence farming and toward agripreneurship.
This means that farmers and fishers must become innovators, entrepreneurs, and partners in development.
With this in mind, young Filipinos must view agriculture not as a sector of last resort but as an industry of vast opportunities, especially now that food production is receiving a significant boost from advances in digital technology.
This requires investments in rural infrastructure, digital connectivity, research and extension, farmer cooperatives and organizations, inclusive finance, market intelligence, and value chain development.
Inclusive agribusiness through 5Ps
A transformative food system requires transformative partnerships, and this calls for the evolution of the traditional public-private partnership model into a broader framework of collaboration.
I am referring to Public-Private-Producer-People Partnerships, or the 5Ps, where government provides enabling policies and investments; the private sector contributes capital, innovation, technology, and market access; producers bring knowledge, labor, and entrepreneurship; and communities and civil society contribute social capital, accountability, and local ownership.
The 5Ps model should also foster inclusive agribusiness development, where value creation and value sharing occur across the entire food system.
This approach enables greater investment in rural areas, stronger farmer-market linkages, improved competitiveness, more inclusive value chains, better risk sharing, and sustainable livelihood opportunities.
The result should be an agribusiness sector that is inclusive, equitable, and partnership-driven.
Healthy nutrition: A national imperative
However, food security alone is insufficient. We must also pursue nutrition security, where healthy diets are not a privilege reserved for the affluent.
We must make nutritious food accessible and affordable for every Filipino. This can be achieved through agricultural policies that support diversified production systems capable of providing nutrient-rich foods.
Government, the private sector, and other stakeholders must also recognize that nutrition is not merely a health concern but a development investment in the country's human capital.
It is likewise an investment in future productivity and national competitiveness.
Every peso invested in nutrition yields multiple returns in education, health, and economic growth.
In closing, allow me to propose eight strategic directions:
First, let us elevate food systems transformation as a national development priority.
Second, institutionalize regenerative and resilient agriculture as a cornerstone of agricultural modernization.
Third, adopt the Food–Energy–Water–Environment Nexus framework in national and local planning.
Fourth, increase public investments in agricultural research, development, and innovation.
Fifth, accelerate digital transformation and precision agriculture.
Sixth, strengthen nutrition-sensitive policies across all sectors.
Seventh, empower smallholders through inclusive finance, extension services, and market integration.
Eighth, scale up inclusive agribusiness through Public-Private-Producer-People Partnerships.
Together, these actions can create a food system that is productive, nutritious, resilient, inclusive, and sustainable.
The Philippines can also emerge as a global leader in transforming food systems for people, planet, and prosperity.
