DAVAO CITY — THE Zamboanga del Norte provincial government with the help of the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) have established Complementary Food Processing (CFP) facility in Roxas Municipality in an effort to address undernutrition among the town’s children.
Launched August 13, DOST-FNRI said CFP would soon be the source of “nutritious food” for children, like “BigMo rice-mongo instant blend, BigMo rice-mongo sesame ready-to-cook blend and BigMo curls.”
DOST-FNRI provided equipment amounting to P1.86 million while the provincial government allotted P1.69 million for the renovation of an old government building and another P500,000 for the initial operation of the facility.
DOST-FNRI added that the CFP is its “undernutrition intervention strategy rolled out in the countryside” like Roxas, which has been found to have high incidence of undernourished children in a recent survey conducted by the institute.
Aside from addressing undernutrition, Engineer Mahmud Kingking, Assistant Regional Director of DOST Regional Office 9, said during the launching that the facility can also provide “nutritious food” during calamities.
On the other hand, Vice Governor Senen O. Angeles, said that the provincial government is planning to make its food production program – Enhanced Gasa Bahandianon sa Umahan (EGBU) to provide the needs of CFP thereby further developing agriculture in the province.
Roxas is a second class municipality with 39,198 residents in 31 barangays. Residents are mostly Muslims and Subanens, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority 2020 survey.
