Food security collab revved up
PLDT and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) join the annual celebration of the National Nutrition Month through their twin food security programs “Rice Together!” and “Buy Local.”
Aligned with this year’s theme, “New Normal na nutrisyon, sama-samang gawan ng solusyon!,” PLDT and Smart continue to work with likeminded organizations to implement programs that aim to help address hunger, combat malnutrition and assist local food growers.
Through their “Rice Together!” program, PLDT and Smart supported Mondelez International’s “Joy Schools” during its pandemic implementation and supplemented the vegetables and other food products distributed to families with two kilograms of white rice for twenty weeks.
A total of 6,000 packs or twelve tons of rice were provided, which were sourced by PLDT and Smart from their supported farming communities in Nueva Ecija, through the “Buy Local” program.
“Buy Local,” another home-grown PLDT and Smart initiative, helps provide farmers a sure market for their crops. Through “Buy Local,” the Nueva Ecija farmers who harvested the twelve tons of rice generated sales of more than P500,000, part of which will eventually go to a sustainability fund lent to other farmers as low-interest loans for farm inputs.
“PLDT and Smart aim to find ways to help achieve food security in the country by collaborating with other organizations and by supporting “Joy Schools,” we can help address malnutrition among children and immediate hunger, while at the same time provide local rice farmers with sure access to market,” said PLDT and Smart Stakeholder Management lead for Livelihood Kristine Joyce Magadia.
“Joy Schools” is a six-month feeding initiative implemented by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). Through the program, the snacks company provides nutritious food to students and their families in chosen parts of Metro Manila to help fight hunger.
The joint Rice Together and Joy Schools initiative reached 300 families from Balara Elementary School in Quezon City, and Don Galo Elementary School and Fourth Estate Elementary School in Paranaque City.