40 percent of newly born Filipinos malnourished

AN expert said that 40 percent of newly born are malnourished as poor Filipinos underconsume meat, vegetables, dairy and eggs, amid the high food prices in the country.

In a forum organized by the University of the Philippines School of Economics Alumni Association entitled “What Ails Philippine Agriculture?: Direction for Future Reforms,” former Agriculture undersecretary Dr. Fermin Adriano said that the unabated increase in the prices of agriculture products contribute to a high incidence of malnutrition.

This happens even if poor households allocate 70 percent of their income to food.

“As a result of underconsumption of protein-rich food, malnutrition for poor children under five in the country is scandalously high. We know that there is a correlation between malnutrition and brain formation, particularly for kids zero to five years old,” Adriano said.

He added that the prevalence of stunting and malnutrition death rates in the Philippines are significantly higher than in other Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries.

He also blamed the underdeveloped and underperforming agriculture sector on the low wages, high poverty incidence, and soaring food prices in the country.

“Agricultural workers received the lowest wages in the country from 2001 to 2015 and expectedly, poverty incidence in the rural areas is the highest, actually four times higher than the non-agricultural sector. That’s the reason why poverty in the Philippines is basically a rural phenomenon because two out of three poor Filipinos are living in the countryside,” he said.

From 2001 to 2021, the major contributor to the country’s inflation was food and non-alcoholic beverages, averaging 43 percent in the last 20 years.

“Inflation last month registered at

7.7 percent, food inflation contributed 45 percent to the inflation figure, a bit higher than the average of 43 percent for the past 20 years. The main contributors to the food inflation for the year 2022 are fish, meat, rice, corn, flour, bread and other bakery products,” Adriano said.

High farm production costs forced Filipinos to pay double the price of pork and chicken than their Thai counterparts and 73 percent higher for pork and 44 percent more expensive for chicken compared to Vietnamese consumers.

“Comparing the Philippine agriculture sector to the other countries, it indeed performed dismally. Average agri-food earnings from 2000 to 2018 failed in comparison with those from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. This is a clear indication of the lack of diversification in the Philippines,” he said.