ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 17, 2013) – Zamboanga City is set to begin a P10-million milk feeding program that would benefit some 5,000 kindergarten and Grade 1 students in public schools, officials said.
Officials said the National Dairy Authority (NDA) is tasked to implement the program – in partnership with the Zamboanga City government and the Department of Education – which aims to provide the necessary nutrition to students and livelihood to dairy operators.
“We will implement a school-based milk feeding program here in Zamboanga City, the funding comes from the national government but this was initiated by Mayor Salazar when she was still in Congress, but we were not able to implement it during her term [in Congress] due to time constraints,” NDA’s Marilyn Mabale said.
The feeding program was first initiated by Salazar when she was still congresswoman and Mabale introduced this to the local school board during a meeting recently with the mayor.
Mabale said the program’s funding will include administrative costs as the NDA will have to make sure it is implemented according to its guidelines to ensure the improvement in the nutritional status of the students.
The program is expected to start next month and end in January 2014.
Mabale said the NDA partnered with Nonito Bernardo, who operates the NJB Farm in Ayala village in Zambanga City. Bernardo is a recipient of the NDA’s dairy program and under the partnership agreement, the NJB Farm would avail dairy cattle from NDA and operates the processing plant that will process, produce and supply the milk products to the program.
Salazar said she is happy by the realization of the program, saying health and nutrition for the children is one of her advocacy
“We are also happy that this is happening as we celebrate Nutrition Month,” she said.
Mabale said she is optimistic the feeding program will become an avenue to promote the consumption of milk, especially among children.
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