Central Visayas, long considered one of the Philippines’ food baskets, continues to grapple with a paradox: despite steady harvests of rice, corn, sugarcane, coconut, and banana, many of its families remain undernourished.
The 2023 National Nutrition Survey (NNS) by the Department of Science and Technology–Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST–FNRI) paints a sobering picture of persistent malnutrition in a region that helps feed the country.
According to FNRI data, 15.4% of children under five are underweight, 22.1% are stunted, and 6.9% are wasted, while a smaller but notable 3.3% are overweight evidence of the double burden of malnutrition. Among adults, 5.7% are anemic, and rising cases of obesity and hypertension mirror the national trend toward diet-related disease.
Economists point out that even as Central Visayas posted the country’s fastest regional growth at 7.3% in 2023, maintained again in 2024, this economic momentum has not automatically translated into healthier diets. Food price shocks, lingering impacts of Typhoon Odette (Rai), and volatile farm incomes continue to erode household purchasing power, particularly among smallholder farmers and fishers.
Nutrition experts warn that without deliberate, nutrition-sensitive interventions, farming families may remain trapped in a vicious cycle: producing cash crops for markets while struggling to put nutrient-rich food on their own tables.
READ: Typhoons Disrupt Food Chains, Expose Deep Child Nutrition Gaps
The Survey, by the Numbers — and Why They Matter
According to the 2023 National Nutrition Survey, Filipinos across all age groups fall short of their Recommended Energy and Nutrient Intakes, particularly for iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C, nutrients critical to growth and immunity.
The FNRI’s December 2024 bulletin further reports that 23.6% of children under five remain stunted and 15.1% are underweight, while among adults, 10.9% of women of reproductive age are anemic and 39.8% of adults are obese.
These trends mirror the global picture. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study estimated that 24.3% of the world’s population, or 1.92 billion people, are anemic, with the burden heaviest among women and young children. Such figures underscore how nutrition deficiencies quietly undercut labor productivity, learning capacity, and long-term health.
READ: LGUs Drive Stunting Cuts as Human Capital Losses Mount
“But We Grow Food.” So Why Don’t Families Eat Better?
- Production vs. plate
While Central Visayas produces abundant crops, much of what is harvested is oriented toward markets rather than household consumption. PSA-7 data (2022) show sugarcane as the region’s top crop by volume, followed by coconut and palay.
However, these cash-oriented commodities rarely make it to the family table. Whether families actually eat what they produce depends on access, affordability, and food choices, factors often shaped by price and policy, not production alone.
- Price shocks and disaster aftershocks
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA–7) reported that the value of regional crop production fell by ₱4.7 billion in 2022, a drop attributed to Typhoon Odette’s devastation. Recovery remains uneven, and many farm families still face volatile incomes and debt burdens.
Meanwhile, elevated food inflation in 2023, highlighted in PSA’s national reports—blunted gains in poverty reduction. Tight budgets pushed families toward cheap, energy-dense but nutrient-poor foods, reinforcing both child undernutrition and adult obesity risks.
- Markets, exports, and cash needs
Sugarcane, copra, and mango remain highly market-driven crops. For many households, selling first is rational—meeting tuition, fuel, or loan payments—while purchasing cheaper staples afterward. Without nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs such as home gardens, poultry, or fish cages, this economic logic perpetuates micronutrient deficiencies within farming communities.
- Knowledge, time, and food environments
Based on FNRI’s 2023 Food Consumption Survey, Filipinos’ low energy and micronutrient intakes are shaped not only by income but also by food environments—what’s available in sari-sari stores and markets—and time poverty, which drives reliance on instant, processed meals.
These factors, combined with aggressive marketing of high-salt, high-sugar snacks, help explain why a stunted preschooler and an overweight adult often share the same household.
READ: Philippines Confronts Twin Nutrition Threats as Risks Rise
Poverty is Falling — But Nutrition Lags
Central Visayas remains a bright spot in economic growth, yet its nutrition outcomes lag behind its GDP. PSA data confirm that poverty incidence among families dropped to 12.3% in 2023, from higher levels in 2021, while national poverty fell to 15.5% from 18.1%. Nevertheless, the 2023 NNS shows that malnutrition indicators remain stubborn.
Nutrition, researchers emphasize, responds slowly to income gains and is highly sensitive to food prices, caregiving, sanitation, and health services. The first 1,000 days of life—from conception to a child’s second birthday, remain the critical window: any setback during this period can lead to irreversible stunting.
Micronutrients: The “Invisible” Deficits
Beyond weight and height, deficiencies in iron, vitamin A, and iodine continue to sap learning and labor potential.
The 2023 NNS shows adult anemia in Central Visayas at 5.7%, a mild public-health concern by WHO criteria, while nationally 10.9% of women of reproductive age are anemic. The 2018–2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS) remains the latest published source for child vitamin A deficiency—15.5% of children aged 6–59 months—and a 2025 Iodine Global Network analysis found that only 32.2% of Filipino households used adequately iodized salt (≥15 ppm).
Together, these findings point to diet quality, not mere calorie intake, as the heart of the country’s nutrition problem.
For Farm Families, the Diet Trap is Rational — and Fixable
National data confirm the logic of the so-called “diet trap.” The 2024 FNRI bulletin summarizing the 2023 NNS reports that 23.6% of children under five are stunted, 5.6% wasted, and 15.1% underweight, while 39.8% of adults are overweight or obese.
A 2025 Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) paper notes that child wasting in the country has hovered between 6–8% for decades.
In practice, farm families sell high-value crops like sugarcane, coconut, or mango to earn cash, then stretch remaining funds for cheaper, filling staples, an economically rational choice that leads to starch-heavy, low-diversity diets.
Studies such as a 2023 PLOS ONE analysis confirm this “double burden” within the same households, where a stunted child and an overweight adult coexist.
What the New FNRI Data Suggest Central Visayas Should Do Next
1) Make agriculture nutrition-sensitive — on purpose
According to DOST–FNRI’s 2023 NNS, most Filipinos fail to meet nutrient needs, underscoring the need to link agricultural programs with dietary goals. The Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN 2023–2028) calls for LGUs to promote backyard and school gardens, small livestock, aquaculture, fortification, and community food hubs to improve access to affordable nutrient-dense foods. This aligns with laws such as the Food Fortification Act (RA 8976), ASIN Law (RA 8172), and the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act (RA 11985, 2024).
2) Guard the first 1,000 days
Under the Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act (RA 11148), government must strengthen maternal and child nutrition from pregnancy to age 2, supported by breastfeeding protection (RA 10028) and micronutrient supplementation (AO 2010-0010) consistent with WHO guidelines. Targeted interventions here yield the highest long-term returns in growth and learning.
3) Shift the food environment
DepEd Order No. 13, s. 2017 mandates healthy food and beverage choices in school canteens—tools LGUs can use to limit sugary, salty, and processed foods. Based on DOST–FNRI’s 2023 survey, pairing such measures with fortification enforcement and nutrition-sensitive social protection (as guided by PPAN 2023–2028) can help steer consumption toward eggs, fish, and vegetables rather than ultra-processed options.
4) Climate-proof nutrition
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (2020–2030), local governments should embed nutrition triggers in contingency plans. The Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act (RA 10821) further mandates child-focused nutrition support—such as breastfeeding protection and ready-to-use foods—during disasters. UNICEF field reports show these interventions being used after Typhoon Odette (2021) and later cyclones.
5) Track the double burden, not just hunger
The 2023 NNS documents coexisting undernutrition and NCD risk. Through the Philippine Package of Essential NCD Interventions (PhilPEN), LGUs can monitor hypertension, obesity, and anemia alongside child stunting and wasting—creating a fuller picture of community nutrition health.
Food Abundance Can Hide Nutrition Scarcity
According to DOST–FNRI’s 2023 NNS, Central Visayas exemplifies the double burden of malnutrition—children too short or too light for their age alongside adults facing obesity and anemia. Nutrient intakes remain below recommended levels even in provinces that grow and export food. The World Health Organization warns that across developing nations, economic growth alone has not improved diet quality or reduced noncommunicable disease risks.
Central Visayas’s economy is thriving; its farms and fisheries are productive. Yet production is not the same as nutrition. When high-value crops are exported, when storms erase savings, when food prices outrun wages, and when convenience stores overflow with salty, sugary fare, abundance never quite reaches the family plate.
The FNRI survey offers a mirror and a mandate: nutrition must be built intentionally—into agriculture budgets, school canteens, health systems, and disaster plans. The region that feeds the nation can also feed itself better, if growth is steered toward equity and nourishment.
Growth can fill warehouses but only nutrition-sensitive governance can fill children’s plates.
