For the first time, anykščių, Kalvarijų, Kėdainiai, Tauragė and Visaginas educational institutions that have submitted applications will receive support in accordance with the support rules for the promotion of the consumption of organic and food products produced in accordance with the national food quality system in pre-school educational institutions.
Kindergartens in Druskininkai, Mažeikiai and Plungė districts, which have been participating in the program for more than a year, submitted applications for this year even more actively. The largest number of educational institutions feeding children with organic products produced according to the NCP system in Šiauliai this year is 20. There were 9 such kindergartens in Panevėžys district municipality, and 7 in Ukmergė district.
“The data show that support is relevant, educational institutions willingly participate in calls for applications, and the number of institutions is increasing. If in the first year of the start of the support, almost a thousand children in seven kindergartens in Lithuania were fed with organic products produced according to the NKP system, then last year there were already 10 thousand of them. and a half in 63 educational institutions. We want as many children as possible to receive quality food, directly from the fields of our farmers, so this year we allocated one million euros more in support and predicted a further increase in funding – the amount will increase by 10 percent every year”, says Deputy Minister of Agriculture Vytautas Abukauskas.
Children’s educational institutions prefer organic products
Last year, children’s educational institutions receiving this support bought the most organic products – almost 448 thousand. kg for 1,887 thousand Eur. They accounted for almost 74 percent by weight. of all products purchased according to quality systems, and more than 85 percent according to value.
Almost 160 thousand NKP products were purchased. kg for more than 323 thousand. Eur. By weight, they accounted for more than 26 percent. of all products purchased according to quality systems, and by value – almost 15 percent.
Products such as milk, cereals, bread and oil and their products are bought only organically. Organic meat, eggs, berries and other food products were also bought more. Meanwhile, more fruits and vegetables grown according to the NCP system were purchased (fruits – almost 60%, and vegetables – almost 55% of all those grown according to quality systems), because there are not enough organic ones.
Rasa Vaisietienė, director of the nursery-kindergarten “Žibutė” in Druskininkai, also notices the fact that there is a lack of suppliers of organic products.
“We have been participating in the program since 2021. In Druskininkai, we were the first educational institutions to start using organic food. Since we are part of a network of health-promoting schools, we try by all means to encourage children to lead a healthy life and take care of their health. Organic food products are also useful for this. It’s a pity that there aren’t many suppliers in our county who might supply larger organic products, so the assortment has become a little narrower, but parents approve and are happy with the organic food provided in the kindergarten”, says the director.
In total, in 2023, kindergartens bought 607,624.96 kg of products for EUR 2,210,841.83 in accordance with the support rules for promoting the consumption of organic and national food quality products in pre-school educational institutions.
One such educational institution – the Pažagienių school-kindergarten in the Panevėžys district – has been feeding its preschoolers differently for three years now – it chooses organic and NCP products and does not promise to stop. Half of the purchased food products are organic products.
“We want to give children quality food grown by local farmers. Our decision paid off, we believe that the products grown in Lithuania are much more beneficial for health, and the parents of the children are satisfied that their children are fed with quality products”, says Jurgita Matuizienė, organizer of meals for the children of the Pažagienių school-kindergarten.
About the initiative
For the fifth year, the Ministry of Agriculture continues its initiative to encourage children to eat local, quality food provided by short food supply chains.
The support is a covered price difference resulting from the choice of organic products produced in accordance with the national food quality system instead of conventional foods and raw materials.
Preschool and pre-school education institutions that seek to receive support in accordance with the rules undertake to purchase at least 60% of products manufactured in accordance with quality systems. (the maximum amount of support per child per month is 26 euros) or at least 50 percent. (the maximum amount of support per child per month is 22 euros) of the total amount of food intended for feeding children.
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2024-04-30 16:39:21
