Kidapawan City launches twin programs to combat malnutrition

FILE: MILK IN SCHOOL. Kindergarten pupils of Kidapawan City Pilot Elementary School simultaneously drink “choco milk” as part of the feeding program launched by the city government. (Photo courtesy of Kidapawan – CIO, via PNA)

COTABATO CITY — The city government of Kidapawan, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA), simultaneously launched on Tuesday the National Feeding Program-Community Based-Dairy Project and “Gulayan sa Barangay” program, both aimed at reducing malnutrition among children.

Mayor Joseph Evangelista and Administrator Lu Mayormita led the launching of the programs highlighted by the simultaneous drinking of “choco milk” by 100 kindergarten pupils of the Kidapawan City Central Pilot Elementary School.

Evangelista said the giving of chocolate milk to elementary pupils will form part of the 120-day supplemental feeding program.

Under the integrated programs, milk and vegetables from the “Gulayan” project will be included in the nutritious food that will be served to pupils during the feeding initiative.

“To sustain the milk drinking program, the city government will intensify its cattle and goat raising program as primary sources of milk,” Evangelista said in a statement.

If children have enough nutritious food, they will be healthy and continue to attend classes year-round, he added.

Mayormita, in an interview on Tuesday, said the city government managed to reduce the malnutrition rate of 9 percent in 2013 to 5 percent this year.