Who are the "FOOD POOR" Pinoys in NCR?

For NCR, if a family of six does not have Php 177.57 (National Statistical Coordination Board [NSCB], 2000) in one day, this family may be counted among the "food poor" Pinoys. Below this amount, the food needs for proper nutrition of the family in NCR are not met. On the per capita level, the annual food threshold is Php 10,802.00 or about Php 29.59 per day. This is the amount of income that an individual should allot to be able to provide for his nutritional requirements. One is "food poor" if he cannot afford to buy enough food that will give him what his body needs.

The current method of estimating food threshold is based on low-cost provincial and regional menus that meet 100% of requirements for energy and protein and 80% of the requirements for the other nutrients. These menus took into consideration the frequently consumed food items and the frequently used food preparation methods. The Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST), being a member of the NSCB Technical Working Group (TWG) on Income and Poverty Statistics, was tasked to develop low-cost menus using the results of its Food Consumption Surveys. The formulation of such regional and provincial menus provided culture-responsive data sets to use as basis for the computation of food threshold and poverty incidence.

In order to validate the current methodology used in estimating food threshold and poverty incidence, a collaborative study by Dr. Ma. Regina A. Pedro and her group, together with the National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was conducted in 2001. The recommendation from the study was to derive food basket and the corresponding food threshold from the reference 'poor' population, rather than across income groups. The proposed methodology results to lower estimates of the "food poor".

In another FNRI study conducted by Dr. Catherine Q. Castañeda on coping behavior towards food security among marginalized families, it was shown that food adjustments such as those listed below were practiced:

	switching staples from rice to corn
	switching viands (ulam) from meat to beans
	cutting down on the number of meals eaten in a day
	sharing of foods from friends, relatives or neighbors
	skipping of meals by some households

Others reported having reduced school allowances of children and consumption of utilities as coping behaviors.

Measuring the extent of poverty extends beyond being "food poor". Basic to man's survival are access to non-food utilities like shelter and clothing. Knowing who the real poor are is vital to the formulation of economic policies and the targeting of development programs for those in real need.