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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Why DepEd has decided to start milk feeding in April 2022

Why DepEd has decided to start milk feeding in April 2022

Published Apr 23, 2022 02:57 pm

Amid the concerns raised regarding the milk component of its School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP), the Department of Education (DepEd) stressed the need to “effectively balance” achieving the goals of the program and its beneficiaries.

(Photo from DepEd)

In a letter, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc. (PCAFI) and Dairy Confederation of the Philippines (DCP), raised concerns about the DepEd’s decision to implement the milk feeding component of the SBFP from April to July 2022.

The groups said that this “in effect will diminish and minimize the participation of local dairy farmers under the program” and “effectively exclude and eliminate the local dairy farmers and milk processing plants from participating of DepEd’s Milk Feeding Program in favor of the big multinational processors....”

DepEd said that it appreciates PCAFI for understanding DepEd’s “commitments on fund utilization” with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), as communicated in their letter.

“Such commitment is among DepEd’s considerations in deciding to start in April the 16 days of milk feeding budgeted through 2022 funds, but it is not entirely so,” DepEd said.

As a response to this concern, DepEd explained that the current school year (SY 2021-2022) ends in June and the next school year is set to start around two months later.

If the milk feeding does not commence in April, DepEd said that the “effectiveness of the SBFP will be affected” as its components such as the milk component and the nutritious food product component “will be split into different sets of beneficiaries in different feeding periods with two months break in between.”

DepEd underscored the need to “balance effectively” achieving the goals of the SBFP such as sustaining the feeding within the school year to achieve optimal nutrition impact among learner-beneficiaries, and “fulfilling the administrative demands for the program” like achieving budget utilization rate targets, complying with directives from the Commission on Audit (COA).

Despite this, DepEd maintained that “this is not to say that the welfare of the farmers was not considered.”

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/04/20/deped-local-dairy-products-priority-in-school-feeding-program/

Concerning this, DepEd also appealed for support for the SBFP.

“With big investments for milk feeding, we hope that the local dairy industry, together with the government agencies overseeing them, will respond to the challenges of program implementation including satisfying volume of production, product quality and certification, packaging, business processes, and government procurement,” DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua said.

He explained that the SBFP has an implementation timeline and fund validity based on the General Appropriations Act (GAA) provisions. “We cannot delay the needed milk for the nutrition of our learners,” he added.

Pascua said that DepEd fully understands the plight of the local dairy industry and thanked them for their efforts in producing and supplying quality milk products for SBFP.

“We are committed to continue partnering with them, despite the challenges we are facing,” Pascua added.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/04/21/deped-denies-minimizing-farmers-participation-in-school-feeding-implementation/

Related Tags

SBFP deped education School-Based Feeding Program Department of education (DepEd)
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