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Maria Ana Uy, provincial nutritionist, said the bakeries will produce fortified bread products patterned after the nutripan bakery program introduced by the Nutrition Center of the Philippines (NCP).
She said the nutripan bakeries will be established as economic enterprises and at the same time as support bases of the local government's supplemental feeding program.
"We believe the nutripan bread will be a hit in the province since we are experiencing a financial crisis," she said.
Uy said South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes has initially committed to allocate funds for the construction of the nutripan bakeries within this year.
The NCP earlier launched the nutripan bakeries in various schools and communities in the country to provide bread or biscuits fortified with iron and vitamin A to schoolchildren at an affordable price.
The project is essentially a feeding project for schoolchildren and in some areas, for preschool children as well.
Nutripan is different from other feeding projects as the bread products are sold and the bakery will seek to be self-sustaining by generating enough sales to maintain its operating expenses.
"This project grew from the NCP's own research findings that fortified bread can reduce vitamin A deficiency and moderate anemia. This project translates biomedical research into a tangible program that benefits children," the NCP said in a project brief posted at its website. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)