The National Nutrition Council in Bicol (NNC) on Thursday urged local government units (LGUs) in Albay province to provide fresh produce for the healthy diets of evacuees.

The call is part of the nationwide celebration of the 2023 Nutrition Month with the theme “Healthy diet gawing affordable for all” (Making healthy diet affordable for all).

In an interview, Arlene Reario, NNC Bicol program coordinator, said community pantries in different evacuation centers would give evacuees healthy options (together) with the relief goods they received.

“We encouraged our LGU partners to provide meat, chicken, fish, and vegetables to the different evacuation centers. However, (there are) some reports that the vegetables given were not used or cooked by evacuees,” Reario added.

To those planning to give vegetables, she said to make sure that the evacuation center has a community kitchen or cooking facility “since if not, it will be spoiled and will be a waste of resources. So best we can tie-up with NGOs (non-government organizations) willing to cook and distribute it like hot meals of the Philippine Red Cross.”

Reario also encouraged NGOs to ensure that their food donations are healthy, safe, and clean.

Based on the NNC monitoring in the different evacuation centers in Albay, there are 179 pregnant and lactating women assessed for nutritional risks.

“We already provided 161 breastfeeding kits for lactating mothers and distributed 2,850 ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF),” she said.

Meanwhile, 20 women’s groups from different barangays in the third district of Albay send hundreds of kilos of farm products weekly to evacuees through a community pantry organized by the office of Rep. Fernando Cabredo.

“Aside from camote (sweet potato), they also harvested pechay, squash, corn, string beans, munggo, kangkong (water spinach), and banana. The women planters in the coastal area also donated dried fish,” Cabredo said.

The donors are among the beneficiaries of the “Taranuman Project” of the Food Security Program established through the help of former Rep. Fernando Gonzales with 141 groups of women planters engage in food production.

Based on data from the Office of Civil Defense in Bicol some 5,768 families or 20,144 individuals are displaced in the seven LGUs namely Camalig, Ligao City, Daraga, Guinobatan, Malilipot, Sto Domingo and Tabaco City. (PNA)