Aboitiz Supports ‘Kain Tayo Pilipinas’, Promotes Initiatives To Address Malnutrition And Hunger
Thet Mesias
The Aboitiz Group supports the ‘Kain Tayo Pilipinas’ program and its mission to feed and alleviate malnutrition in the country. The Group aims to help achieve the goal of ending hunger by 2030.
Kain Tayo Pilipinas is one of the flagship programs under the Pilipinas Kontra Gutom (PKG) movement, led by private corporations, media, NGOs together with the Department of Education, DOST-FNRI, and the National Nutrition Council.
This program’s three-fold approach includes feeding, education, and collaboration, in order to holistically address the issue of hunger and malnutrition in the country. Feeding programs will be complemented by education programs, with the aim of making nutrition knowledge accessible and sustainable in every Filipino family.
During the ‘Kain Tayo Pilipinas‘ media launch last July 20, Task Force Zero Hunger chairman Sec. Karlo Nograles shared that an estimated four million Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger according to a Q1 2021 survey by Social Weather Station. While the hunger rate, 16.8% of families in May 2021, is lower than the 2020 annual average of 21.1%, it is doubles the pre-pandemic level of 8.8% (December 2019). This is why Sec. Nograles is emphatic in calling for everyone’s support.
“Every Filipino ay may magagawa dito sa laban sa hunger (Every Filipino can do something in this fight against hunger). Let’s make this fight the fight of all Filipinos. Lahat tayo dito ay kasali, lahat tayo dito kasalo (We’re all in this together, we are all a part of this). That is basically what this Kain Tayo program is about: it enables every Filipino to help fellow Filipinos,” Sec. Nograles said. Interested individuals can log on to the Kain Tayo Pilipinas website and sponsor meals for as low as PHP25 per day.
He also commended the private sector for their support in the program.
“We are grateful for the unwavering commitment of the private sector to join the zero hunger movement. The Kain Tayo Pilipinas program will go a long way in addressing the hunger and malnutrition problems especially among mothers and children who are 5 years and below,” said Sec. Nograles.
Apart from Sec. Nograles, also present during the media launch were National Nutrition Council Executive Director Dr. Azucena Dayanghirang, Private Sector Lead of Pilipinas Kontra Gutom Margot Torres, Kain Tayo Pilipinas Lead Kristine Go, and Mark Lawrence Cruz of Gawad Kalinga. Representatives from various NGOs, media partners and the private sector were also present.
Aboitiz Group initiatives to address malnutrition, promote food security
Aside from the financial donation of the Aboitiz Group to the ‘Kain Tayo Pilipinas’ program, the Group continues to advance business and communities through its own social initiatives that address involuntary hunger and advocate for food security in the country.
“We in the Aboitiz Group support Pilipinas Kontra Gutom and Kain Tayo in its mission to alleviate malnutrition and achieve zero Hunger by 2030. Aboitiz is also a part of PKG’s work stream 1, a multi-sectoral team that is focused to address availability and accessibility in its goal of elevating farming as a dignified and sustainable profession that will contribute to food security. In the face of the economic slowdown brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to collaborate and work together to expand our reach and to help feed more Filipinos in need,” Aboitiz Foundation President and COO Maribeth L. Marasigan said.
The “Kutitap Feeding Program” of Pilmico, the Aboitiz Group’s food unit, addresses both goals by addressing malnutrition in public schools, while supporting local businesses. The Kutitap Feeding Program was launched as a sustainable initiative, empowering local bakeries through the technical training of bakers and equipment donation, and the regular donation of nutritious baked goods to children in public schools. Such initiative helps sustain the businesses of the bakeries involved in the program and significantly decreases the number of severely wasted and wasted students while increasing school attendance. Further, Kutitap bakeries augmented their sales volume by 71% (on average), since supplying bread for the Kutitap Feeding Program.
Another initiative is the “Pilmico Livelihood Program”, launched in 2014. It aims to provide sustainable livelihood businesses for Filipino farmers and promote the consumption of locally-grown produce.
Aboitiz Foundation, in collaboration with the various business units of the Aboitiz Group, also supported the Livelihood Recovery Project for Partner Cooperatives and Associations Nationwide (REstart). It supports partner cooperatives by donating “restarter” kits such as farm inputs, bakery restarter packages, and egg-laying machines. These kits will help organisations rebuild their coops and support food production in local communities.
Most recently, the Aboitiz Group empowered Hindang and Marawi-Baloi farmers to become “agri-preneurs” in Iligan. Aboitiz Foundation donated farm equipment—such as corn shellers, moisture checkers, PVC tarps, weighing scales, and other farm inputs—to help the farmers increase their crop production and grow their cooperatives, which in turn will contribute to the food security in their provinces.
