INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The ‘Kiren Sapiri Dayak&, the national programme to provide a pack of liquid milk to every child will be inaugurated under the
patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena today(23).
The programme launched under Grama Shakthi People Movement together with Ministries
of Education, Health and the Livestock Department and many other public and private stakeholders aims to provide a packet of liquid milk to
around 600,000 selected primary students island-wide.
To mark the inauguration President will symbolically hand over milk packets to a
group of students at Kajugaswatte Shasthrodaya Vidyalaya in Nivitigala, Ratnapura tomorrow.
Speaking about the upcoming national event the
Principal of Shasthrodaya Vidyalaya Mr
Waruna Kumara said he and his students are pleased that their school has been chosen as the venue of this important event.
This programme
will be helpful to address the nutritional issue among students which is commonly prevalent in the area,& Mr
It will also be a boost to maintain regular attendance, he added.
Students of the school have been given a training on how the clean the
packets after consuming and store for the purposes of recycling.
The Programme under President Sirisena concept of creating a ‘Nutritious
young generation of a nation bountiful with milk,& is coupled with a plan to boost local milk production by providing incentives to dairy
farmers.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a Cabinet Paper presented by the President and allocated Rs
1,000 million to initiate the programme
Of the 1.7 million schoolchildren in Grades 1 to 5, more than half a million will receive a sachet of milk each, on every school day.
Under
this Private Public Partnership (PPP) programme, small and middle level entrepreneurs in villages will be able to set up milk production
units at village level with the support of the private sector.
The school milk program is to be augmented by the Grama Shakthi village
It is proposed to provide 15,000 cattle to selected 7,500 villagers to ensure continuous milk supply
Private sector companies that will produce the sachets will enter into buy-back agreements with the Grama Shakthi village units.
The Grama
Shakthi People movement aims at empowering people by initiating joint ventures between the village committees and private sector companies
Initially, the Government will provide funds to the village committees for technological support and buyback arrangements with the private
Once the project is launched, the Government will not intervene and it will be entirely for the village committees to carry out the project
and reap the benefit.
Milk production is expected to increase with the additional demand for milk
The current production is around one third of the requirement and the balance is met with imported milk powder
More than 100,000 metric tons of powdered milk is imported annually at a cost of over US$ 380 million.
The school milk program has multiple
aims as it envisages increasing the nutrition level of children in the country and making Sri Lanka self-sufficient in liquid milk by
strengthening the local dairy industry.
