Grade 1 students to get free milk

Some 115,000 Grade I public school pupils nationwide will be supplied with locally produced milk by dairy farmers beginning on the opening of the school year this year.

According to the Department of Agriculture some P70 million has been allocated under the Food for the School Program for School Year 2007-2008.

In a press statement, it said that these pupils are from 1,151 schools in 23 provinces in the different parts of the country.

A memorandum of agreement has been signed between the Department of Agriculture through the National Dairy Authority, Health and Nutrition Council and the Department of Education. The FSP aims to address the malnutrition problem among the school children as it provides also a market for locally produced milk.

In a study done in 2003, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute showed that 12 million out 17 million Filipino children aged two to 10 are malnourished. Around 6.2 million (36.6%) of these children are stunted, while 4.8 million (28.3%) are underweight.

In response, the National Dairy Authority (NDA) in collaboration with foreign and local sponsors, has been pushing the Milk Feeding Program (MFP) to supplement the needs especially among the nutritionally deprived sectors of the country.

From 1995 to date, some 500,000 children from 63 provinces have been covered by the program, utilizing locally produced milk. The weight and nutritional improvement of these children has consistently been pegged at over 85%.

At the Dairy Congress, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) entered into a milk feeding agreement amounting to P70 million that will cover 115,000 Grade 1 public school children in 1,151 schools in 23 provinces nationwide. Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who keynoted the congress, signed the agreement with DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapuz.

The Dairy Congress 2007 was considered the perfect venue for the dairy sector stakeholders to share and learn the best practices in the industry as well as providing direction for its future. - Jasmin R. Uy/BRP