The minimum wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) was increased to P570 last June.
However, inflation and the war between Russia and Ukraine happened. Prices of petroleum products soared and brought about a spike in prices of goods and services, particularly food.
For a nation where malnutrition has been a perennial, chronic and deceptive threat, the biggest victims are the children who are more prone to infections and viruses when malnourished. It was estimated that 30 percent of kids under five years of age are stunted, and the country ranks among the Top 10 globally with the greatest number of stunted children.
And then there is still the raging Covid-19 pandemic.
Food security in the Philippines
During the most recent weekly “Stop Covid Deaths” webinar titled “Nutrisyon sa Panahon ng Pandemya: Can P250 a Day Feed a Family?” organized by the University of the Philippines, together with UP Manila NIH National Telehealth Center and in cooperation with UP Philippine General Hospital (PGH), Dr. Cecilia Acuin, Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute of Human Nutrition and Food, University of the Philippines Los Baños, pointed out that according to the Rapid Nutrition Assessment survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) among food insecure households in low, medium and high-risk areas in late 2020 or at the height of the pandemic, food insecurity significantly increased way before the inflationary effects on the country’s food supply.
“Right now, the FNRI is already conducting the 2022 version of the survey, and I’m a little bit worried on the country’s state of food insecurity,” Dr. Acuin said.
“We need food for nutrition, and we need good food for good nutrition, and we need good nutrition for good health,” she added.
She pointed out that if households produce part of their own food, it can help lower the cost of producing a nutritious diet. If food production exceeds the household’s own needs, it can reduce the costs of a nutritious diet to almost zero. A “Fill the Nutrient Gap” report by the United Nations’ World Food Program showed that 37 percent of households on average are unable to produce nutritious diet, but if they produce their own food, it goes down to 30 percent.
“If they can produce more than what they need and they can sell the excess like in front of their houses at lower prices, the number of households unable to afford nutritious diet goes down to 14 percent. Best thing, if they can sell their produce at market prices, they can totally afford a nutritious diet, where costs go down to zero,” Dr. Acuin said.
The urban setting
While producing their own food works well in rural or provincial areas, the same cannot be said in the urban communities, where access to food is almost exclusively driven by having enough money to buy them.
Dr. Acuin proposed nutrition-smart agricultural strategies, which she grouped into two: increase density of nutrients per food item, and the best way to do that is through food staples like rice, wheat, root vegetables, meat, fish, milk, and increase the quantity of non-staple food such as eggs, small fish, specific green leafy vegetables. “Quite of number of these can also be produced in urban settings, but it needs cooperation and assistance from the government to enable this.”
Can P250 daily food budget produce a nutritious diet?
According to Emilita Lavilla, Head of the Dietary Service of the PGH, the answer to the question is a “yes.”
She said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), where the FNRI is an attached agency, produced recipes and made substantial research on how Filipinos can respond to the tough times by producing practical ways that can enable households to meet the P250 daily food budget for a nutritious family meal.
Alternative protein sources
Lavilla said the DOST-FNRI published the 2022 Menu Guide Calendar titled “Nutritious Meals for Healthier Families in the New Normal.” “The recipes made use of alternative protein sources like tofu, monggo, tinapa, dilis, root crops, leafy and green vegetables. Costs of ingredients for the recipes range from P44 to P150, and the recipe is good for a family of five people.”
She said that by looking at the calorie and nutrient contribution of the recipes, people will find that the recipes are able to supply the necessary energy needed by adults and children, including essential nutrients like calcium, iron, or vitamin A.
Some of the recipes in the menu guide include unusual-sounding dishes like Chicken Veggie Nuggets with Fried Egg, Monggo Curry, Kala-Mote (Kalabasa and Kamote) patties, Tokwa Mechado, among others, all within the P250 budget.
“The DOST-FNRI, just like the famous tagline of a bank, found ways on how to meet nutrient requirements within the budget and with what is available.”
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