Eight of 10 Filipino households are starving

By Ma. Adrienne S. Constantino
Food and Nutrition Research Institute

Eighty percent of Filipino households were wracked by food insecurity or lack of food to eat because of inability to purchase food due to financial constraints in 2001.  This finding came out in a survey conducted nationwide in 2001 by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, an agency of the Department of Science and Technology.  The survey covered six months using an adaptation of the Radimer/Cornell measure.

The condition has unlikely changed significantly today.

More than 80% of households in the country said the food they bought for the family just did not last.  Worse, households did not have enough money to buy anything to eat. 

More than half of those surveyed felt that because food was not enough and there was no money to buy it, their children did not eat enough and the food given to them were nutritionally inadequate.

The study also revealed that 33.5% of children in food insecure households were underweight while 38.5% were underheight or short.

All regions in the country had high percentages of households that were food insecure.  Over 90% of households in Bicol, Eastern Visayas, and Western Visayas experienced food insecurity. 

The lowest percentage of food insecurity was found in Northern Mindanao, which at 72.5% is still considered high.

Rising costs of basic commodities adversely affected majority of the population. This should be a serious concern among the country's development planners and policy makers to create sustainable economic programs, job opportunities, and make food prices affordable.

 [For more information on nutrition survey data, you may write or call The Director, Food and Nutrition Research Institute-Department of Science and Technology, Gen. Santos Avenue, Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila, Tel/Fax: 8372934, 8373164; E-mail: cvcb@fnri.dost.gov.ph; FNRI-DOST website: http//www.fnri@dost.gov.ph]