Essential to producing nutrient-rich crops are irrigation, water conservation, and well-nourished soil. Certainly, there is an interrelation between the environment and nutrition, emphasized more intently as the nation commemorates Nutrition Month in July each year.
Anchored on the theme, “Sama-sama sa Nutrisyong Sapat Para sa Lahat: Nutrisyon at Kalikasan Ating Pangalagaan,” linking the environment toward a healthy population is at the forefront among local government officials, policy makers, educators, varied stakeholders, and the public in general.
In a recent Kapihan regularly spearheaded by the Philippine Information Agency Negros Oriental Government Information Center, resource person Manric Barillo, chief of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), expounded: “Once the soil is stabilized and provided with the natural way and its natural condition is restored, you would no longer introduce enhancers or whatever implements that can help to produce a good quality vegetable or crop.”
Barillo said protecting the province’s watershed areas is crucial to maintaining water quality, which is also essential in enriching and nourishing soil.
Measures have been adopted to safeguard water resources, including an integrated water resource management program and Executive Order No. 26, which institutionalizes a water quality monitoring program implemented with local water districts.
The province has four watersheds: the Cuernos de Negros Watershed or Mount Talinis; the Tayasan Watershed, a sub-watershed of the Ilog-Hinobaan Watershed; the Bateria Watershed in Guihulngan City; and the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Sibulan, a protected area and ASEAN Heritage Park.
Barillo said these watersheds keep the province’s soils fertile, and crops grown in fertile soil are nutrient-dense, which helps address malnutrition and hunger in the province.
This year’s Nutrition Month celebration also reinforces the call to practice sustainable food systems to ensure food security.
Provincial Agriculturist Emmanuel Caduyac said the province responds to this call through two programs: the Gulayan at Palaisdaan Alay sa Kabataan (GPAK) and capacity building for mothers of malnourished children.
GPAK brings together students, parents and teachers to tend backyard farms in schools where they grow vegetables or raise inland fish.
“What they harvest in their gardens will be used in their feeding programs for the kids. Whatever extra crops they have, they can sell it or consume it. We extended this to the community; we encourage parents of students, through the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA), to have their backyard gardens,” Caduyac said.
The Provincial Agriculturist Office (PAO) has turned the program into a contest, with the winning school or community receiving a community project as a prize from the provincial government. Some 86 schools across Negros Oriental have joined the program.
Caduyac said the office also holds cooking sessions and demonstrations for mothers of identified malnourished children, teaching them to prepare nutrient-rich food using local ingredients.
The PAO has also developed a vegetable patty recipe using alugbati (Ceylon spinach), monggo (mung beans), malunggay (moringa leaves), kalabasa (squash) and saluyot (jute leaves) to make vegetables more appealing to children. It also developed recipes for kalabasa noodles, kalabasa cupcakes and kamote (sweet potato) doughnuts.
Dr. Liland Estacion, provincial health officer and provincial nutrition action officer, said this year’s nutrition discussion goes beyond reporting nutrition status and interventions and extends to environmental stewardship, as healthy environments are essential to healthy communities.
“Let us continue our partnership, share knowledge, and renew our commitment to building a province where every child grows healthy. Every family should have equal opportunity to enjoy nutritious food. Every community should work together to protect the environment for future generations,” Estacion added.
Moreover, it was reported in the same forum that the number of underweight children dropped from 5.2 percent in 2021 to 4.8 percent in 2025, stunting from 10.6 percent to 9.2 percent, and wasting from 3.4 percent to 2 percent.
Estacion attributed the improvement to initiatives of the Provincial Nutrition Committee in partnership with local government units. | NWI
