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Official Publication of the Philippine Information Agency Bicol Regional Office, in cooperation with the RIAC-REDIRAS - RDC Bicol



Wednesday, September 16, 2015

DAR, agencies links arms to boost kids’ health in Camarines Sur

LEGAZPI CITY, Sept. 16 (PIA) -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), teamed up with Rep. Leni Robredo of Camarines Sur's third congressional district and the food caterers in Naga City have partnered to feed the city’s 2,700 Day Care Center’s school children with a healthy and balanced diet.

The feeding project was carried out under the Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (PAHP) program.

Officer in charge Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II (PARPO II) Maria R. Gracia Sales said organic vegetables grown by agrarian reform farmers will be made available for the various feeding programs of the DSWD.

“Local smallholder farmers, mostly agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) will plant or produce the organic crops needed for the feeding programs and sell them to food caterers who will, in turn, prepare the dishes for the school children,” Sales said.

Sales added that the arrangement is important, not only because the program provides the schools with fresh vegetables, but also it conveys to children the importance of producing organic nutritious foods for healthy living.

The benefits of the PAHP program do not just end with having nutritious school meals but to stimulate the local market here to increase the income of smallholder farmers, and be less dependent on chemically grown foods from other sources,"Sales said.

Aside from Cararayan-Pacol-San Isidro in Naga City, pilot areas for the PAHP program in Camarines Sur include San Antonio, Ocampo; Del Rosario, Pili; and Bonot-Sta-Rosa, Calabanga.

 PHAP is a collaborative effort of various agencies to engage poor households and work closely with the rural communities to provide essential social and economic services toward eliminating hunger and alleviating poverty in the countryside.  (MAL/DAR5/PIA5)

- See more at: http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/771442388541/dar-agencies-links-arms-to-boost-kids-health-in-camarines-sur#sthash.qCHzdGXu.dpuf

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