By Sam Ramos
A recently released survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed that 4.8 percent of families in Northern Mindanao were classified as “food poor” last year, 2023, indicating that approximately 48 out of every 1, 000 families did not have enough income to meet their minimum basic food needs.
According to the PSA, a family of five in Northern Mindanao needed at least PHP 9,676 monthly to cover essential food requirements in 2023. This figure reflects a slight decrease from 6.2 percent in 2021, but a rise compared to 3.9 percent in 2018. The regional subsistence incidence also surpasses the national rate of 2.7 percent for 2023.
Among Northern Mindanao’s provinces, Lanao del Norte recorded the highest rate of food-poor families at 11.1 percent, while Cagayan de Oro reported the lowest at 0.6 percent. However, in terms of total families affected, Bukidnon had the highest count with 21, 410 families, whereas Cagayan de Oro had the fewest at 1, 230 families.