Hunger level in RP declines
The number of Filipinos who are hungry has declined, based from the statistics from the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
This statistic was presented during the meeting of the Population, Health and Nutrition Sub-Committee of the Social Development Committee of the Regional Development Council 6 held at Emilion, Gen. Luna, yesterday.
The presentation was made by Nona Tad-y, regional nutrition program coordinator of the National Nutrition Council. She presented that last December 2008, the population of hungry Filipinos reached to 23.7 percent and has reduced to 15.5 percent in 2009. Thus, there was a decrease of 12.6 percent.
She noted that the levels of people going hungry are high during the 3rd and 4th quarter of the year wherein the distribution of food production and marketing are low because of the rainy season. Then the level tapers down to the first quarter when the economy is recovering from the lean months.
Tad-y said that the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program of the government has resulted to this development. “As early as the year 2005, the hunger mitigation program is already in place. That's why Filipinos did not experience severe hunger,” she said.
In the presentation, there are two reasons why people go hungry. First, there is no money to buy food. Second, there is unavailable or insufficient food to eat. People don't have money to buy food because they have low income, low capacity to improve their income, have poor knowledge on nutrition and large family side. There is unavailable or insufficient food to eat because there's low food production and poor food distribution system.
The government embarked on hunger mitigation measures on the supply and demand sides. On the supply side, efforts like increase in food production and enhancement of the efficiency of logistics, microfinancing, and food delivery, were improved. On the demand side, projects that put in money on poor people's pockets, promotion of good nutrition, management of population, among others, were made.
Some of the projects that the government made to mitigate hunger are Programang Gulayan ng Masa, Tindahan Natin, Food for School Program, coming up with recipes that are cheap but nutritious, improvement of farm to market roads, among others.