Free glass of milk program to benefit 200,000 children

Shirley Wijesinghe

The Government is planning to launch a program to give a glass of milk to children of Samurdhi and low income families by February this year.

The main objective of the program is to reduce the cost of living of low -income families and promote liquid milk consumption among children, sources added.

Around 200,000 children between 2-5 years will benefit by the program.

According to Ministry sources, 200,000 glasses of milk per day will be given for 25 days each month to selected children through Government family health workers in each area. This program was proposed at the last budget to give a glass of milk to children of low income families and Rs. 900 million has been allocated for year 2009.

Milk production in the country was increased by 28 percent last year due to incentives given by the Government to milk producers, Ministry sources revealed.