THE Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. (ProPork) has expressed support to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. leading the agriculture sector.“The Pork Producers Federation of the Phils. Inc. will fully support him on whatever plans he has that supports the interests of local producers and consumers,” said ProPork president Rolando Tambago, in a statement Thursday, July 7, 2022.Tambago believes it is the “best decision” for Marcos to “directly handle the Department of Agriculture (DA) rather than appointing someone who cannot effect positive change” in this time of food crisis.“I believe President Bongbong Marcos fully understands the problem that our local agriculture is facing in relation to food sufficiency, the reason he wanted to personally lead DA,” said Tambago, who is also the chairman of the Central Visayas Pork Producers Cooperative.“With him now on top, he can easily influence bigger budget for DA that would support priority projects for food sufficiency and security amid the looming global food crisis,” he added.Agriculture is one of the priority sectors that Marcos promised to uplift once he gets elected as president.During the DA Executive Committee on Monday, July 5, Marcos directed DA officials to fully prepare for the impending food crisis that is already affecting other countries.“We are already in a disadvantageous position in terms of food supply. We should really pay close attention to what we can do,” he said.He also ordered the DA officials to attend to the food supply concerns by increasing local production, particularly of rice, corn, livestock and poultry.“We have to think very hard about making sure that people have sufficient food, that is number one, at the price that they can afford. Because again, it’s useless to have food if they cannot afford it anyway,” he said.Marcos specifically instructed the DA to focus on ensuring food supply for the next two quarters of the year.“The immediate concern in the next six months is food supply. We need to feed our people, and so we need to find strategies to make sure that those who are in need are supported by the government,” he said.For the long term, Marcos has directed the rebuilding of the food value chain from research and development, all the way to retail.He also highlighted that importation will not be the primary measure to be undertaken under his administration to ensure enough and affordable food supply.