EDITORIAL — Children’s staple

Rice is the nation’s staple. For the early childhood years, there is another basic food item: milk.

For both staples, unfortunately, the country is heavily reliant on imports. Rice self-sufficiency has been going down in recent years, from 81.5 percent in 2021 during the COVID pandemic to 71.7 percent in 2024.

The situation is worse for milk, a staple for children and infants whose mothers cannot produce enough breast milk.

Last year, the government reported what it described as a record-high domestic milk production of 43.4 million liters. That record high, however, accounts for only a miniscule 2.22 percent of the country’s total milk requirements, according to the National Dairy Authority.

Still, the NDA notes that this is an improvement from the one percent milk production over the past 30 years. Last Thursday, the NDA announced plans to expand its milk production programs in Romblon. The NDA met with local government officials in the province to discuss dairy development.

Considering the serious problem of physical and mental stunting among children under age five in the country, there should be more urgency in addressing the problem of malnutrition and undernutrition.

Breast milk is the best for infants, but many mothers are themselves malnourished and cannot produce enough breast milk. For the children of these mothers, undernourishment and stunting starts in the womb.

For these impoverished mothers, baby formula is a luxury they can only dream of for their children. Even the cheapest brand of baby formula is beyond the reach of many mothers. Spending on growing-up milk for older children is out of the question.

The government has a supplemental feeding program that typically includes milk in cartons, but only for public grade school children.

Milk can be made more affordable if the country produces more of its requirements. The government can facilitate the importation of dairy cattle breeds with high milk yield that can thrive in the tropics. It can provide incentives to attract more private investments in this sector.

It can also look into reports that limits on agricultural land ownership are hindering such investments in an enterprise that requires large areas, ideally in highlands, for cattle grazing and milk processing.

Experts have cited early childhood stunting as one of the factors behind the poor academic performance of Filipino students in basic education. The stunting problem has worsened over the years. Boosting domestic milk production will go a long way in addressing both stunting and the persistent problem of hunger.