Goat milk is nutritious as mother’s milk

By FLOR JACKSON, (PIA Biliran)
July 3, 2006

NAVAL, Biliran  –   "If a child drinks goat’s milk, it is just like he is drinking a mother’s milk because the vitamins, minerals and nutrients he gets from a goat’s milk is equivalent to a mother’s milk which is a complete food in itself," thus said Ms. Nascencia Abad, the Municipal Agricultural Officer (MAO) of the local government unit (LGU) of Naval who is also the chairman of the Municipal Nutrition Council (MNC) in said municipality during the Kapihan forum held live recently at Radyo Natin-Naval.

She revealed that the municipality of Naval through the MNC is targeting the total eradication of malnutrition in the area.

At least, she said, two of the 26 barangays in the municipality have been identified with malnourished children.

The MNC of Naval through the office of Ms. Abad as the MAO has identified Goat for Milk Production project in all the barangays of the municipality so that children especially those that were identified as malnourished can avail of the daily supply of fresh milk extracted from the female goats.

She added that in order for the Goat for Milk Production project to be sustainable, a family-recipient of one female goat will have to return two female goats months later and this will be given to other households who are yet to receive their share of the project.

The beneficiaries, she declared, have nothing to fear if the goats will not survive because these are fully insured under farm animals and livestock insurance with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), hence replacements are at hand anytime.

A training of the beneficiaries initially identified by the MAO of Naval on the goat for milk production will be conducted by the first week of July to teach them how to raise goats for milk production especially in handling and taking care of the female goats which are the sources of the rich and nutritious fresh milk.

Furthermore, she said that the goat for milk production project will be paired off with vegetable gardening project so that each family in the barangays of Naval town will have a steady supply of fresh vegetables readily available right at their own backyards.

A regular feeding program is also conducted regularly by the MNC of Naval in barangays with identified malnourished children. Funding of this program comes from Roselyn Espina-Paras who spends her fund salary as member of the Sangguniang Bayan of Naval for this particular project.

With these interventions, Ms. Abad declared, she could not find reasons why malnutrition in Naval will not be eradicated, though she said, this can only attain success if the parents especially those with malnourished children will extend full cooperation and support to what is expected of them by the Naval MNC and the coordinating agencies.

Based on the data released by the NNC in region 8, Brgy. Libtong and Brgy. Villaconsuelo in Naval town have been identified as barangays with malnourished children in various degrees.