 | Milk feeding in the time of pandemic |
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pia.gov.ph; May 12, 2021
NUEVA ECIJA, May 12 -- Among the programs of the Department of Agriculture-National Dairy Authority (DA-NDA) is the Milk Feeding Program.
This program aims to improve the nutritional status of malnourished children and to create livelihood opportunities for local dairy farmers who are tapped as suppliers of milk.
Pre-covid times, milk was served in public schools to grade 1 and grade 2 children or in community centers for children 6-7 years old and who are no longer breastfeeding.
Beneficiaries are dewormed and weighed. At the end of the feeding period of 120 days, they are weighed again to determine the change and effectivity of the feeding program.
Parents and teachers are also oriented on their roles in the program.
The coming of the pandemic has indeed made the program more difficult to implement but this has not stopped NDA and its partners in coming up with creative solutions to ensure that milk is provided to children and that farmers still earn.
Through the implementation of the Milk Feeding Component of the Department of Education's (DepEd) School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP), undernourished children are being provided with nutritious food products including pasteurized milk sourced from the assisted-dairy cooperatives of the NDA.
Since learning is now home-based, the food products are either delivered to households or picked up by parents in schools. Thus, despite this difficult time, children have milk and farmers are able to earn. (DA-NDA)
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