Improvement of Community Nutrition and National Food Security:

1. Improvement of Community Nutrition and National Food Security: Milk Feeding Program and Gulayan sa Paaralan ISRAEL Q. DE LA CRUZ Senior Science Research Specialist Bureau of Agriculture & Fisheries Product Standards Department of Agriculture Republic of the Philippines

2. Outline • The Philippines • National Milk Feeding Program • Gulayan sa Paaralan

4. The Philippines • The Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands covering a land area of 115,739 sq. m. (299,764 sq. km.). It has 17 Regions (2 Autonomous), 79 provinces, 117 cities (Manila as the capital) • Tropical Climate (Ave. temp 21-35C) • Natural Resources: timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper • Population: 92 mil (2011) • Religion: Approx: 90% Christian (Roman Catholic 80.9%), Muslim 5% (Southern Philippines), 5% Others

5. The Philippines • GDP (purchasing power parity): $390 billion (2011 est.) • GDP - per capita (PPP): $4,073 • Primary exports include semiconductors and electronic products, transport equipment, garments, copper product petroleum products, coconut oil, and fruits • Major trading partners include the UnitedStates, Japan, China,  Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, China, Germany, Chinese Taipei, and Thailand

6. MILK FEEDING PROGRAMDepartment of AgricultureNational Dairy Authority

7. About the Program This program continuously served as the base market of the local dairy farmers, especially those who had just started in the business of dairying.  It addresses the issues of poverty by rescuing children from malnutrition while providing a steady flow of income to local dairy farmers and their cooperatives.Enforcement of Section 16 of the National Dairy Development Act of 1995.  This section requires that government nutrition programs that use milk shall be supplied by local milk producers and shall be coordinated with the National Dairy Authority

8. About the Program Inter-agency Milk Feeding Committee (IMFC). Departments of Agriculture (through the National Dairy Authority), Education, Health (through Food and Drug Administration and the National Nutrition Council) and the Social Welfare and Development.Build-up of the Philippine Milk Fund. This is a fund that is used by the NDA to offer as counterpart to local governments and other co-sponsors. NDA continues to seek new partners in augmenting this fund.

9. Milk Feeding Program Requirements A. Pre-Feeding Period B. Feeding Period C. Post Feeding Period

10. A. Pre-Feeding Period • Identification of target areas and children beneficiaries • Deworming of identified beneficiaries • MFP Orientation among Barangay, Nutrition Scholars/Barangay Health Workers, school nurses/teachers, collaborating agencies, parents and beneficiaries • Signing of Memorandum of Agreement

11. B. Feeding Period • Launching ceremony and start of the feeding • Checking, recording an distribution of milk deliveries • Conduct of regular weighing and height taking • Conduct of regular monitoring in the area

12. C. Post Feeding Period • Final weighing and height taking of children beneficiaries • Submission of terminal report. The report includes a summary of other observed improvements of the children.

13. D. Other requirements • Requirements weighing scale is Salter for community children and Detecto for school children • Deworming shall be done within 7 days to 4 months prior to the actual feeding • Recommended time of feeding is from 8:00-9:00am or 1st hour of school with double single session • Milk ration shall only be fed at the designated feeding center/room

14. Current Implementation

15. ProgramangAgrikulturang Pilipino(GulayansaPaaralan)

16. Objectives General: • Promote self help production activities and values among children that will appreciate agriculture as a life support system Specifics: • Promote vegetable production through natural farming in public elementary and high schools; • Establish/maintain school gardens to serve as food basket/main source of vegetables to sustain supplementary feeding; • Showcase small-scale food production model in schools for the households/communities to replicate, purposely to promote family security

17. Duration, Scope, and Coverage • The Program will cover all public elementary and high schools in 16 regions and National Capital Region • For year 20122, the Program’s target is 8,415 schools (in 26 provinces) • By 2016, 42,076 school gardens (8,415 schools per year) all over the country (78 provinces) are targeted

18. Project Components • Sustainable Production of Vegetables – engages the schools as a vehicle in increasing awareness as well as cultivating interest among the young, the value of safe farming and producing nutritious food. • School Gardens for Source of Supplemental Feeding – schools will be tapped to utilize their vacant areas for the establishment and maintenance of school gardens. Vegetables produced from the gardens will become a source of food for the school’s supplemental feeding program, to reduce malnutrition • Small-scale food production model – the school garden by itself becomes a model for backyard gardening, it shall showcase what parents/elders can do more to make food always available for family consumption

19. Implementers/Collaborators • Department of Agriculture - Bureau of Plant Industry, Agricultural Training Institute, 16 regional field units • Department of Education • Department of Interior and Local Government • Department of Health (National Nutrition Council) • Non-government organizations, People’s Organizations, Parent-Teachers Association, 4H Clubs, Rural Improvement Clubs, Senior Citizen Organizations

20. Situationer: hunger and malnutrition affect 19% or 3,268,000 families out of the 17,400,000 households in the Philippines • GulayansaPaaralan seeks to create awareness about health and nutrition, and promote the economic benefits of establishing school, household and community gardens.

22. Success Stories • Medroso-Mendoza High School, Camarines Sur • 393 students and 10 regular teachers • 3,000 sq meters converted to vegetable garden • Php10,000 provided by PTA to purchase seeds • 800 cabbage, 1,500 radish, 1,000 tomatoes, 50 bitter gourd, 260 cucumber • School earns gross income of P56,000 to P63,000 just for tomatoes

23. Example Implementation In Northern Mindanao • The five-year program aims to cover 42,076 school gardens by 2016. • As of June 2012, 574 schools have benefited from the project in Northern Mindanao while the other 342 is yet to be confirmed by the provinces of Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental. • For 2012, it is expected that 650 schools in the region will benefit from the project by receiving vegetable seeds and planting materials.

24. Implementation • In Northen Luzon • The Department of Agriculture (DA)- Cordillera, in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepEd), is on the process of assessing the entries of the search for best GulayansaPaaralan for public elementary and high schools in the region. • The GulayansaPaaralan which is piloted in Kalinga and Mountain Province has 271 participating schools.The program aims to promote self help food production activities and values appreciation of agriculture as a life support system among children.

26. Thank You!