Seed firm joins FNRI to fight malnutrition

Aleading seed company in the Philippines has started collaborating with the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) to promote proper nutrition, especially among young children so they will have a good start in life.

The seed company is the East-West Seed which has been developing improved varieties of vegetables that can contribute to the supply of nutritious vegetables that can be grown in farms as well as in home gardens.

As the initial project for East-West’s collaboration with FNRI of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), a showcase of a vegetable garden has been established at the FNRI grounds in Bicutan, Taguig City. FNRI is headed by Dr. Mario Capanzana who took up his PhD in Food Science at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

With the use of improved seeds and growing techniques, several favorite vegetables are now yielding bountiful harvests of eggplant, okra, tomatoes, ampalaya, sitao, patola, pechay, pumpkin and others. In addition, flowering ornamentals and culinary herbs are also grown in the ground as well as in containers.

The purpose is to show that vegetables can be grown even in limited space with the right technology. To expand the collaboration, plans are under way to put up similar vegetable gardens in regional offices of the FNRIDOST wherever it is suitable.

Encouraging more people to eat vegetables, from the very young to adults, is deemed to significantly contribute to the proper nutrition of Filipinos who are suffering from malnutrition. Malnutrition results in stunting as well as in obesity. Stunting, which means the individual is growing below the standard, is the result of prolonged inadequate intake, improper feeding practices and recurrence of illness, according to the FNRI report.

What worries experts is that the occurrence of stunting is getting higher. For instance, the prevalence of stunting

BUTTERNUT PUMPKIN – This is one of the vegetables grown at the FNRI vegetable garden in Bicutan, Taguig City. A variety of East-West Seed, this is said to be resistant to common squash diseases, and the fruit has excellent eating quality.

FNRI Director Mario Capanzana holds a sachet of a rice-mungbean mix which makes a balanced diet for children. The formulation was developed by FNRI and is now commercially produced by a number of private manufacturers.