Close to half of all Filipino families, or 49 percent, produce their own food from crops, livestock or fish, a June 25–29 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The nationwide poll, the results of which were released on Thursday, covered 1,200 adult respondents with a ±2.8 percent margin of error.
The figure is up from 43 percent in April and 45 percent a year earlier.
SWS said crops remained the most common source of home-produced food at 86 percent (from 84 percent in April), followed by livestock at 59 percent (from 48 percent), and fish at 7 percent (from 9 percent).
The survey results also found involuntary hunger being lower among families that produce their own food.
Eighty-four percent of them said they did not experience hunger, while 16 percent reported moderate to severe hunger in the past three months.
SWS defines involuntary hunger as going hungry and having nothing to eat at least once in the period.
Among the self-rated poor, 56 percent of families who produced their own food reported lower incidence of hunger, compared with 44 percent of those who had to buy their food.
A similar pattern was seen among food-poor families, with 54 percent producing their food versus 46 percent relying on purchases.
Home food production was also common among borderline groups — 61 percent of borderline poor and 62 percent of borderline food-poor families.
In contrast, the majority of families who rated themselves as not poor (61 percent) or not food-poor (57 percent) still purchased their food. Only 39 percent of the not-poor and 42 percent of the not food-poor produced their own supplies.
Regional differences were stark. In Mindanao, 70 percent of families produced their own food, followed by 66 percent in the Visayas, 49 percent in the rest of Luzon, and just 6 percent in the National Capital Region (NCR).
In Metro Manila, 94 percent of families said they did not produce their food, compared with 56 percent in Luzon outside NCR, 34 percent in the Visayas, and 29 percent in Mindanao.
