The Dairy Production and Development Center (DPDC) is encouraging residents to coordinate with their office to avail free milk particularly for indigent children ages two years old and above as they cannot roll out the milk feeding program per barangay due to movement restrictions in connection with COVID-19 pandemic.
Ariel Colongon, officer-in-charge and senior science specialist of DPDC said Wednesday that the milk feeding program started to roll out in 2020 to serve the milk requirement of children from the cattle raised inside the farm.
“Ang mangyayari ay request na lang. Syempre ang priority namin ay indigent, mga hindi kayang bumili ng gatas. Ang problema namin, gusto namin talaga mag-serve kaso nga lang kailangan magpaalam sa barangay,” he said.
“Ngayon kung may indigent at may dalang sulat, for filing purposes lang at least kapag in-audit kami, alam kung saan napupunta ang gatas. Binibigay namin na free ‘yan,” he added.
The Dairy Production and Development Center of the regional agriculture department which is also known as Dairy Farm in Irawan is under the supervision of the National Dairy Authority (NDA), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The dairy farm originally planned to saturate barangays of the city starting in barangay Irawan for a 120-day milk feeding program. However, the management decided to invite residents to visit its office as gatherings are not allowed.
The management limits entry of individuals purchasing their products to comply with the health protocols. The local dairy farm offers fresh milk, chocolate milk, and different flavors of ice cream.