Prosperidad, ADS– The Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur through the Provincial Nutrition Committee in collaboration with National Nutrition Council Caraga facilitated the conduct of the 3-day Training on Idol ko si Nanay to nutrition program implementers of the province.

The training was conducted on 27-29 September 2022 at the Provincial Learning Center, Provincial Capitol, Agusan del Sur.

Forty-one (41) health and nutrition workers from the municipalities of Bunawan, Esperanza, La Paz, Rosario, San Francisco, San Luis, Sta. Josefa, Sibagat and Talacogon attended the training.

OIC-RNPC Niño Archie S. Labordo discussed the guidelines of participatory cooking demonstration during the second day of the training. The guidelines highlighted the preparation of common food recipe appropriate for complementary feeding such as lugaw and ginisang monggo. Moreover, it emphasized the participation of the mothers and caregivers all throughout the cooking demonstration. This will serve as a guide on proper complementary feeding with its principles – timely, adequate, properly fed and safe.

Before the demonstration, on the third day of the training, OIC-RNPC Labordo discussed the steps to follow in the roll out of participatory cooking demonstration. First step is to make sure that the chosen type of food and recipe is common to the household or their locality. Second is handwashing and wearing of appropriate clothing such as hairnet and apron. Third step is to prepare the ingredients and to wash thoroughly the materials to be used and lastly is the cooking proper.

In the cooking proper, the recipe presented was rice porridge or malapot na lugaw with active participation of the Barangay Nutrition Scholars and other nutrition workers. Important points were emphasized during the demonstration. Some of the points is that the ratio of rice and water must be 1:8 and it should be stirred continuously in clockwise direction for up to 10 minutes or more upon boiling until the right consistency is achieved.

The appropriate complementary feeding is given to children ages 6 months and above for proper growth and development. In Agusan del Sur, a number of children were recorded as stunted. The reason for these nutrition situation might be the improper feeding to children and/ or lack of knowledge of the parents on appropriate child rearing practices. Hence, the participatory cooking demonstration was conducted as it is one of the effective way to improve the nutritional status of the children.#MPRayco