THE poverty rate in Eastern Visayas has grown to an alarming 54.9 percent from 45 percent three years ago or a year before the onslaught of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” that devastated the Visayas in 2013, Vice President Jejomar Binay said Thursday.
He said he was saddened by the rising poverty incidence in Eastern Visayas as shown by the recent Annual Poverty Indicators Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“Based on the APIS report, the poverty incidence here in Eastern Visayas reached 54.9 percent in 2014 compared to 45 percent in 2012,” Binay said. “This means 2.25-million people in Eastern Visayas have no source of income and that results in poverty and hunger.
“It is very unfortunate that, for the past several years under the present administration, poverty and hunger have become prevalent.”
Binay said the coconut farmers were the most affected by Yolanda as 1.1 million of them lost their source of income after the typhoon destroyed 33.82-million coconut trees.
He vowed to develop coconut milk as an alternative to milk so the country would no longer depend on imported dairy products.
“We will use the coconut milk to feed the children under a feeding program for students to prevent malnutrition,” Binay said.
The government should also look into the possibility of planting other high-value crops.