Carmen, Cebu - Farmers play a crucial role in our daily life. Agriculture growth has proven its effectivity in reducing poverty than growth in any other sector. The potential impacts of agricultural activities on health and nutrition extend across several channels. One area of impact is household ability to produce, purchase and consume more, better, and cheaper food.

Another important contribution of agriculture towards nutrition and health is increased rural income, allowing people to improve their diets. But somehow agriculture is not being recognized by people as an intervention to poverty and malnutrition. Areas wherein poverty lies are mostly located in the rural areas although numbers can also be seen in cities. We all know that there is a certain gap between agriculture and nutrition at some point.

Nutrition sensitive program are part of the nutrition intervention in the reduction of malnutrition in the country. But how can we improve poverty which greatly affects malnutrition? A very common question we can hear in our day-to-day living. The solution might be around the corner, yet we don’t grasp it seriously.  One way in improving nutrition status is by capacitating our farmers.

By capacitating our farmers, they will be able to learn more about how they can contribute to reducing food insecurity in the Philippines which is one of the problems why malnutrition occurs.  Aside from reducing food insecurity, farmers will be able to help and improve the livelihood problem in the country.  

Farmers are not just hard-working but also disciplined and patient by nature. They live a simple life without complaining and they value every second of time. With these characters alone it is not that hard to capacitate our farmers. As what Hippocrates says, ‘Let food be thy medicine, we should appreciate every food that the farmers produced and helped them improve their knowledge and skills through capacitating them. // ND II Geraldine Mae S. Pausanos, RND