GATAS NG KALABAW FESTIVAL

First week of July this year marked the second Gatas ng Kalabaw festival which was held in consonance with the Nutrition Month celebration. The main atrium of NE Pacific Mall in Cabanatuan City once again became the venue for this significant event where different dairy products from carabao’s milk were displayed and sold for seven days.

Photo from: catanduanesforum.com

Underscoring the theme “Gatas ng Kalabaw: Kalusugan at Kinabukasan ng Mamamayan”, this year’s main activity was the ceremonial milk toast which signaled the simultaneous milk drinking by 2,500 children aged five to six in 15 barangays all over Nueva Ecija. This activity promotes the importance of milk as an essential health food that helps arrest malnutrition among pre-school children.

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Gatas ng Kalabaw festival is organized annually by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Nueva Ecija Provincial Government in collaboration with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Philippine Carabao Center (PCC), Nueva Ecija Provincial Government (NEPG), Nueva Ecija Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council (NESMEDC), Likhang Novo Ecijano Marketing Association (LINEMA), and dairy carabao cooperatives in the province.

Photo from: mysmartschools.ph

The fair aims to actively promote carabao’s milk as a nutrition and livelihood industry which is strongly supported by the local government units (LGUs) of Talavera, Llanera, Guimba, Science City of Muñoz, and San Jose City which all recognized carabao’s milk as their municipality’s/city’s one town one product (OTOP).

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