DA promotes responsible food consumption through social media

FILE: DA Logo (Photo by Department of Agriculture, Public Domain)

ILOILO CITY —  The Department of Agriculture (DA) in Region 6 is encouraging Western Visayas residents to join a social media challenge asking participants to post not selfies but photos of plates full of healthy food.

Dubbed “#Riceponsibleplatechallenge”, the activity aims to encourage consumers to become responsible in consuming the food on their plates to avoid rice wastage and to put value on the efforts of farmers to produce food.

DA is implementing the social media challenge in partnership with the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).

Sheila Toreno, DA-6 information officer, said the public is encouraged to appreciate the value of food on their plates as currently, there are areas in the region which experience rice shortage.

To join, interested individuals should prepare a healthy food on their plate, take a photo and post it on social media, particularly on Facebook, she said.

They should also use #Riceponsibleplatechallenge in their caption, together with their age, gender and description of their food and post it on account of DA on Facebook.

The challenge is open until this November 30 while judging will be on December 18. First place will get PHP10,000; PHP7,500 for second place; and 3rd place with PHP5,000.

Last year, Toreno said that people in Western Visayas also participated in the “Brownriceforgood” social media challenge aimed at encouraging consumers to eat brown rice to avoid diabetes, heart diseases and cancer.

Western Visayas ranked third in the whole country with the most number of individuals who participated in the challenge. (PNA)