LANTAPAN, Bukidnon (PIA)—The food-grade equipment received by Xavier de Kibangay High School in Lantapan town from the Department of Science and Technology in Bukidnon (DOST-Bukidnon) is now on its finest operation while the school has stopped functioning due the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic.
“In this time of crisis, our school is closed and every day we pray for the healing of our land. That is why we thought of producing Corn Instablend so that we can help our neighbors here in Kibangay, especially the children,” Sister Mercy Ongsit, the school director said.
The Religious of the Assumption Sisters ran the Xavier de Kibangay High School (XKHS) where students are 95 percent indigenous people (IPs). XKHS is a recipient of the DOST’s Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST) program that provides food-grade equipment and technical assistance in the school’s food processing project.
The school administration prioritizes the formulation of Corn Instablend, which was inspired by the DOST-FNRI’s BigMo complementary food.
BigMo is FNRI’s ‘Sulong Pinoy Program’ with rice-and-mongo based products.
But for XKHS in Lantapan town, where corn is abundant, Corn Instablend has been produced. Corn is rich in Vitamin B12, folic acid, and iron.
With this, DOST-Bukidnon assisted XKHS in producing its first complementary food—the Corn Instablend. Its first beneficiaries were the 87 children of Old Kibangay sub-village. This is also the school’s outreach activity during this COVID-19 outbreak.
Malnutrition is one of the problems in the community. Lantapan town has a 49 percent poverty incidence rate.
According to the Municipal Health Office, there are still 200 malnourished children (36-71 months old) to date.
Sr. Ongsit and her staff went around the neighborhood to distribute some 261 packs (100g per pack) of Corn Instablend.
Aside from this, XKHS is on product development of cookies and various delicacies to utilize the equipment provided by DOST under the CEST Program. (DOST Bukidnon/PIA10)
