Eating Lifestyle Assessment of Agta Dumagats at Brgy. Malinao Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija: A Basis for an Extension Program

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The purpose of this study is to document the eating habit/lifestyle of Agta Dumagats in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Thus, can be a baseline for further research about their food ways and be a basis for an extension program. Quantitative and qualitative description design of research were used in this study. Respondents were chosen with the use of purposive sampling technique. Collection of data was through the use of survey questionnaire and face to face interview. The respondents of this study were the 80 Agta Dumagats of Dupinga/Malinao, Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, Philippines who were selected to answer structured questionnaires & interview prepared by the researchers. The researcher utilized questionnaires in gathering the primary data for the study. The participants were approached and guided personally by the researchers in answering their questionnaires and their answers or the interview were recorded through the use of audio recorder to facilitate an early retrieval of answers or responses. Questionnaire was validated using the following approaches; The researchers established content validity by giving survey questionnaires to the respondents. The researchers also referred and consulted with expert in the field of the research problem. And, the researchers did pilot testing where 20 Agta Dumagats answered the questionnaires to ensure its validity and reliability. Most of the respondents were at the age bracket of 35 years old and above. It reflects that both male and female Agta Dumagats were cooperative in social interactions. For their religion, it indicates that majority of them were Born Again Christian. Majority of their Civil Status were married. It can be seen that all of the respondents speak Tagalog as their usual dialect spoken. Majority of the respondents were 26-50% of dumagat blood quantum. Their monthly income ranges from 500-1,000PhP. In terms of highest educational attainment, most of them were elementary level, and their household members have 4-7 members. Most of the Agta Dumagats rely on tourism related resources as their activity in acquiring foods. They frequently ate fish because of its affordability and availability. Rice was the most eaten in terms of plant based food. Agta Dumagats knew how to cook by using local recipes and common cooking methods because they had already adopted the manners in which the Tagalogs prepared their foods. They constantly washed their hands before eating, and they always drink water before and after eating. Agta Dumagats also have common practices and habits like giving or sharing foods with their neighbors and chewing “NGA-NGA” (bettle nut) before and after eating. On their manners of acquiring food, if they do not have something to eat, some of Agta Dumagats go to stores to buy foods. Traditional rituals and praying before hunting were still observed. For them to keep the good harvest - taking good care of the plants by means of watering it every day was the basic technique they knew. Agta Dumagats were also aware on how they can preserved their foods, they used alternative preservation techniques like putting excess food on the container with ice, cooked perishable foods with primary ingredients like salt and sugar, they also used the sundried preservation. There were also wild plants that they consumed which were unknown for the Tagalogs like sukbaw and tagupos that Agta Dumagats described as the same as sweet potato. “Civil Status” top most the rank among other items, got significant value of 0.38 and showed that the more that Agta Dumagats were married the more responsibilities they had, specially the ways or activities on how to acquire foods for their daily consumption. The researcher concluded that among 64 households, a need to improve the literacy program of the Dumagat community must be strengthen, as well as the livelihood program and supports from the government and extension services department.