Undernourished kids enrolled in child development centers (CDCs) in the 11 villages of Burgos, Ilocos Norte will be provided with hot meals for 120 days under the government’s supplemental feeding program (SFP).

This year’s SFP, which will start this week in collaboration with the local government, will feed 193 children with eggs, glutinous rice, vegetable noodles, monggo, fruits, and vegetables, according to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) field office project development officer Vincent Acantilado in an interview Monday.

He said the DSWD allocated PHP486,360 for the project.

“We will also involve the parents in the preparation of the hot meals for them to appreciate the importance of proper nutrition among children,” he added.

SFP is the department’s contribution to the government’s Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program, and is in line with Republic Act No. 11037 or the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino (Healthy Food for the Filipino Children) Act.

It provides food and regular meals to children enrolled in local government unit-managed CDCs.

Children are considered “stunted” when they are small for their height, primarily because of poor nutrition.

Provincial Nutrition Action Office head Elma Irapta said another cycle of feeding program will be rolled out in the middle of the year, tentatively on June 10 to 12.

“We have scheduled three feeding programs this year for preschoolers aged three to five years, six months to two years old, and for pregnant and lactating women in the entire province,” she told the Philippine News Agency. (PNA)