Authors
ABSTRACT
Poverty among landless agricultural workers can be addressed by improving their health status through proper nutrition. Good health influences a person’s ability to work and earn a living. This paper assesses the effect of income on the nutritional status of landless farm workers in Calauan, Laguna. Caloric intake of household members and weight of preschool children were used as measures of nutritional status. Results show that 80% of adults and 51% of preschool children had inadequate caloric intakes. Low caloric intakes are associated with household income. Weight, however, is found to be normal despite poor caloric intakes among children. Households’ incomes are below the Laguna poverty threshold. A third of the respondents are unable to augment income through off-farm employment. Policy recommendations include information dissemination by the barangay health units about programs on proper nutrition and off-farm employment prospects for landless farm workers.
