MANILA — Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said the expanded funding for Agricultural Food Hubs in the 2026 Department of Agriculture (DA) budget is a critical step toward unlocking Mindanao’s potential as the country’s primary food basket and stabilizing food prices nationwide.

Under the bicameral conference committee report, funding for Agricultural Food Hubs rose from ₱2.125 billion to ₱2.625 billion. The funds will be used to build facilities for aggregation, storage, cold chain, processing, and distribution in major production areas such as Mindanao.

“Marami sa kinakain ng bansa ang galing sa Mindanao. Kapag naging mas makinis at mas mabisa ang sistema ng pagbyahe ng pagkain mula sa mga bukirin patungong mga palengke, makikilala na ang Mindanao bilang food basket ng Pilipinas (Mindanao grows much of the country’s food. When we’ve put in place the system that moves that food efficiently from farms to markets, Mindanao will become known as the food basket of the Philippines),” Pangilinan said.

The senator noted that poor logistics, high transport costs, and post-harvest losses have long prevented farmers in Mindanao from fully benefiting from their productivity, while consumers elsewhere face higher food prices.

According to the DA, priority areas for building these agriculture food hubs for 2026 include Bukidnon (Region X), Camarines Sur (Region V), Quezon (Region IV-A), and Pampanga (Region III).

Pangilinan said strengthening food hubs, alongside farm-to-market roads and ports, would reduce spoilage, cut layers of middlemen, and allow farmers and fisherfolk to earn more while keeping food affordable.

“Kapag nabubulok at tinatapon ang pagkain bago dumating sa merkado, talo tayong lahat: magsasaka at mangingisda, mamimili, at ang pambansang ekonomiya (When food rots and are thrown away before it reaches the market, we all lose: the farmer and the fisher, the consumer, and the economy),” he said.

The senator added that the focus on Mindanao aligns with his broader food security agenda, which treats logistics and regional equity as central to hunger reduction.

“Hindi natin masisiguro ang pagkain kung hiwa-hiwalay ang mga food-producing regions. Buong Pilipinas, hindi lang Mindanao, ang makikinabang kung maging food basket ang rehiyon (You cannot achieve food security if the country’s main food-producing regions remain disconnected. All of the Philippines, not just Mindanao, will benefit if the region becomes a food basket),” Pangilinan said.

He emphasized that food hubs must be paired with strong governance and transparency to ensure funds are spent on functional facilities, not idle or underutilized infrastructure.

“Andami na nating nakitang mga proyekto na ang galing sa papel at mga Powerpoint presentation pero olats sa totoong buhay. Ang agri food hubs, dapat madeliver ang pagkain, maitaas ang kita, at maibaba ang presyo ng pagkain; kung hindi, ‘di nito nagampanan ang kanyang layunin (We’ve seen too many projects that look good on paper and Powerpoint presentations but fail on the ground. Agri food hubs must move food, raise incomes, and lower prices; if not, they fail their purpose),” he said.