MANILA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines will convert penal properties across the country into farmlands and train prisoners to farm crops to boost food production, the government said Thursday.
The project, dubbed Reformation Initiative for Sustainable Environment for Food Security (RISE), aims to utilize and rehabilitate arable lands within the prison reservations and penal farms nationwide to boost food production towards attaining food security and sustainability.
"This initiative attests to our unyielding commitment to food security and rehabilitative justice," Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos said during a signing ceremony of the joint project at the presidential palace.
The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, located in Palawan province, will serve as the pilot site of the project since it covers arable land spanning approximately 28,700 hectares of land, according to the Bureau of Corrections.
The Philippines, with nearly 110 million population, faces the challenge of food security, especially for the low-income, as malnutrition and hunger persist. The potential impact of El Nino this year further threatens food production in the country. ■
