Bayawan City – The Nangka Agrarian Beneficiaries Farmers Association (NABEFA) of Bayawan City, Negros Oriental, is thrilled to their future partnership with the National Nutrition Council Region VII as one of the suppliers of the complementary food commodities during the implementation of the third and fourth phases of the Tutok Kainan Supplementation Program (TKSP) in the region. This initial agreement was firmed up on 29 November 2021, during the meeting of PNFP Kristal Katrina Bacay and the association’s manager, Ms. Jill Marie dela Cruz.
As the only FNRI-food technology supplier in the region who have complementary food technologies for 6-23 months children, the NABEFA have expressed their interest to supply NNC 7’s requirements for the TKSP. The facility currently has Nutrigo Blends Instant Baby Cereal or the Mongo Blend, an FNRI Food technology and Nutrigo Blends Champorado – their own initiated food technology which has been approved by the DOST-FNRI.
The upcoming phases of the TKSP would need a total of 2000 food items daily for a duration of 6 months, to be distributed to the different areas of Central Visayas implementing the program. Association Manager dela Cruz committed to supply the requirements regionwide. She promised that they will strive to deliver the demand of their clients also to maintain the production level of their food plant.
TKSP is one of the nutrition interventions initiated by the National Nutrition Council and implemented in partnership with local governments. This is NNC 7’s COVID-19 response to reduce stunting among children 0-23 months old by improving the quality and quantity of food and nutrient intakes and utilization of related ECCD F1KD services among nutritionally at-risk pregnant women and children 6-23 months old in the target program areas. The program provides dietary supplementation to nutritionally vulnerable groups and offers platform for educating mothers on desirable complementary feeding practices and promoting local food supply value chain between the national government program “TutoK Kainan” and local agrarian reform beneficiary organizations, sustainable livelihood program associations and farmer-fisherfolk cooperatives in the different parts of the country. This is part of the NNC’s commitment to deliver nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive program using the principle of convergence as an effective strategy to manage hunger and malnutrition in the country. // PNFP Negros Oriental Kristal Katrina Bacay, RN
