Responding to the forecast of a severe dry season, Head of BKKBN Hasto Wardoyo noted during the kick-off meeting event here on Thursday that cheap local food can be an alternative for preventing stunting.
As a food superpower, Indonesia can handle the dry season that may cause a food crisis in several regions with other local foods that are relatively healthy to consume by children.
He highlighted that drought may cause scarcity of rice, and in such situations, the people can get around this problem by consuming cassava to meet their carbohydrate requirements.
He also reminded families to not be fixated on instant foods, such as noodles, to meet the needs of their children.
Wardoyo emphasized that despite busy schedules, every family should change its mindset to not focus on instant foods that are easier to process.
Hence, he suggested that parents spend some time to learn how to process local food as complementary food for breast milk.
For instance, they can learn how to make porridge or cook foods with easy-to-get and inexpensive animal protein sources, such as eggs, fish, and chicken.
Wardoyo remarked that the dry season may affect the families' economy, so he called on parents to not be fixated on providing formula milk to children.
This is because mothers can provide exclusive breastfeeding to children until the age of six months.
Earlier, Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Dwikorita Karnawati urged everyone to take action to mitigate the impact of the dry season in 2023.
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Translator: Hreeloita D S, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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