HEALTHY diets remain elusive for many Filipinos as these prove costly even for the average Juan, according to a report by the World Bank.
In a report, titled “Undernutrition in the Philippines: Scale, Scope, and Opportunities for Nutrition Policy and Programming,” the World Bank said this conclusion is based on the cost of the recommended diet (CoRD) methodology.
CoRD estimates showed a healthy diet costs P68 per day but households only spent P48 per adult per day. The report noted that this is based on 2015 data.
“Poorer Filipinos eat a diet heavy in rice, with low levels of diversity and limited animal protein,” the report stated. “A healthy diet is expensive in the Philippines.”
The World Bank recommends that the country invest in nutrition. They estimated that every dollar invested in “high-impact, nutrition-specific interventions” by the Philippines will increase adult incomes by $66, one of the highest in 34 countries.
“Delivering these interventions as a package and at scale —with at least 90 percent coverage—will result in very high economic returns,” the report cited a 2013 Lancet journal which recommended interventions to boost nutrition outcomes.
Due to the high cost of a healthy diet, Filipinos mostly consumed rice or starches. Based on 2015 data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), Filipinos consumed 159 percent of the recommended consumption of starchy staples (particularly rice).
However, Filipinos consumed only 22 percent of the requirement for vegetables, 10 percent for fruits, 12 percent for eggs, 79 percent for meat and pulses, 33 percent for milk, and 29 percent for fats and oils.
This may lead to what is termed as the “hidden hunger.” The report stated that this “is a form of malnutrition caused by a lack of vitamins and minerals in the diet such as vitamin A, iron, zinc, folic acid, and iodine.”
“Collectively, micronutrient deficiencies are a leading cause of intellectual disability and preventable blindness in children and death of women during childbirth. They can limit a person’s ability to learn, earn a living, or live a healthy life,” the report stated.
Improving this requires boosting agricultural production. The World Bank said agriculture growth in the country has not improved dietary diversity in the Philippines.
It added that increased food production is an important link between agricultural growth and nutrition. If overall food production is low, there is less food diversity and less nutrition in diets.
However, the World Bank noted that in improving nutrition, it matters what kind of crops are produced. If agricultural production is focused on basic cereals, this will not lead to healthier diets because these carry low nutritional content.
In the Philippines, rice production “remains at the forefront of significant government policy and spending decisions.”
The World Bank noted that under the Department of Agriculture’s budget for fiscal year 2020, the rice program received 48 percent of the budget allocated for production support services.
The sector also accounted for 53 percent of funds for extension support, education, and training services; 35 percent for agriculture equipment and facilities provision; 49 percent for research and development; and 88 percent for irrigation services.
“The vast majority of the budget of the National Irrigation Agency is devoted to single-crop rice production schemes. All of this support is for a crop that contributes only about 18 percent of the value of agricultural production,” the report stated.
Despite this, many poor households in the Philippines still spent more to buy rice. The World Bank said the poor spend 19 percent of their total food expenditure on rice.
In July 2018, a kilogram of rice cost P43 in Philippine supermarkets. This is more than double the amount paid by the Vietnamese who only pay P21 per kilo for the staple.
With the implementation of the Rice Trade Liberalization law, the government was able to bring down the cost of rice in the retail market.
However, farm-gate prices have fallen faster. With the low price, rice has crowded out the entry of more nutritious food in the Filipino diet, particularly the poor.
Policies affecting food affordability include restrictions on food imports, restrictions on land use and land market development, restrictions on entry into the freight and logistics sector.
The World Bank also said the concentration of irrigation development almost entirely on rice, and relative neglect of food crops other than rice and the public goods needed to develop those subsectors.
“While most, if not all, Filipino households can afford a diet that meets their energy needs—primarily due to their rice-heavy diet—more than one-third would not be able to afford a diet that meets their nutritional needs. Poverty is the key factor here,” World Bank said.
In order to address these, the World Bank recommended that the government promote the diversification of production in the agriculture sector and expand the sector with a focus on value addition and specialization in key select regions.
There is also a need to improve access to markets for consumers and invest in infrastructure that lowers the cost of trade and transportation.
The World Bank also said the government should promote fortification as an entry point for improving nutrient intake in the short term and create a package of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions targeted to agricultural households.