ISSAAS PHILIPPINES 8TH NATIONAL CONVENTION IN BENGUET STATE UNIVERSITY THIS OCTOBER

23-July-2008

Benguet State University (BSU) in La Trinidad, Benguet will be hosting the 8th ISSAAS Philippine National Convention and Annual Meeting on October 24, 2008. BSU and the Philippine Association of Agriculturists (PAA) are collaborators of the said convention. The theme for this year's convention is Securing Food for Today and the Future.

Convention Rationale

A recent column in one of the major national dailies aptly describes the global importance of the concern for food when it mentioned that food security is our key to survival. The situation it mentions is far worse than may be thought of given the incessant increase in the prices of commodities such as oil, rice, corn and other commodities on a global scale.

The current crisis is described as a “gathering storm that threatens to destroy everything in its path, the most vulnerable of which will be the poor”. Thus, it said that the problem will worsen as millions more will become undernourished particularly those in poor and developing countries which are dependent on food imports. And the situation has been aggravated by the decision of India, Vietnam, China, Bolivia, Pakistan and other countries to stop food exports that has led to prices increases, hoarding and panic buying in many parts of the world including the Philippines. And as a consequence, global economic growth has been adversely affected. And who can blame these countries for doing so considering that they themselves have many mouths to feed. It concludes “the only way the country can weather the storm of rising food prices is to lessen its dependence on other countries by enhancing agricultural production and achieving food security in the future”.

This year’s convention of ISSAAS and PAA will be addressing this most important issue.

For more details, go to the convention page.