Upfield to boost nutrition among children | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

Upfield to boost nutrition among children

21 February, 2021

Upfield, a global plant-based company through its operations in Sri Lanka, plans to make a nutritious breakfast for 100,000 children under the first phase of the company’s nutritious breakfast program to be launched this year.

Around 63 percent of children in the country start school without breakfast according to a study.

The program will be launched in collaboration with the Ministries of Health and Education to boost the nutritious level of food among children.

“We plan to launch the program hopefully by the third quarter this year and expand the outreach next year,” Upfield Marketing Manager, ShehaniLiyanage said.

Upfield, leading producer of plant based spreads and cheeses with over 100 brands has committed to making nutritious breakfast a reality for 100 million children globally by 2025.

“We strive to improve the health and wealth of people through the promotion of nutritious food and awareness on the importance of consuming healthy food,” Liyanage said at the launch of the Astra DiriyaWanitha campaign in Colombo last week to empower women to be entrepreneurs in the baking industry.

The Astra Home Bakers program will include comprehensive training on all aspects of cake making. Astra’s mission is to empower  at least one woman from each GramaSevaka division to boost the living standards of 14,000 families across the country.

“The program will boost household income and enable women to provide better health and education to children,” Upfield Customer Development Director AnurudhaAluvihare said.

Astra has launched similar initiatives in Colombo and Kurunegala. The current initiative will be at a larger scale involving more beneficiaries and stakeholders. The women empowerment program will be launched initially in the Western Province with 15 training programs next month with an investment around Rs. 10 million under the first phase of the program.

Association of Samurdhi and Agricultural Research Officers General Secretary Jagath Kumara said around Rs. 10 billion has been allocated to support around two million Samurdhi beneficiary families to improve their living standards and added that the Astra initiative will boost the efforts of the Government to empower low income families.

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