The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., has approved a three-year program to improve food insecurity and malnutrition measures.
The NEDA Board approved the Reducing Food Insecurity and Undernutrition with Electronic Vouchers (REFUEL) Project during its final meeting on Wednesday before its transition to become the Economy and Development (ED) Council as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 12145.
RA 12145 also gave the NEDA greater authority as the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev).
The REFUEL project, set to be implemented from July 2025 to July 2028, is an enhancement of the Philippine Food Strategic Transfer and Alternative Measures Program (STAMP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), one of the strategies under the government’s flagship Walang Gutom (Zero Hunger) 2027 Food Stamp Program.
It targets to benefit about 750,0000 food-insecure households included under DSWD’s Listahanan 3 database through an estimated PHP74.6 billion funding from the Asian Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International Development.
“By approving the REFUEL project, the government demonstrates its unwavering commitment to fight food insecurity and undernutrition. The program reflects a renewed focus toward ending involuntary hunger, uplifting vulnerable communities, and promoting resilience through smart, nutrition-sensitive social protection,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement Thursday.
According to the 2023 National Nutrition Survey of the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute, three in every 10 Filipino households experience moderate to severe food insecurity, and three out of every 100 households face severe food insecurity.
“The project’s goal is to strengthen our shock-responsive social protection systems by ensuring the timely delivery of food vouchers to Filipinos in need, particularly those facing hunger and nutritional challenges in the face of increasing climate and disaster risks,” Balisacan said. (PNA)
