The EU’s glass of milk program is to promote the consumption of milk among children and adolescents, and thus a healthy lifestyle, and not replace the market for milk producers, said Minister of Agriculture Marek Sawicki during a press conference on Monday.
I often have the impression that we are dealing with expectations that the + glass of milk + program will replace the market and generate demand, said the minister. He added that there is no such money in the budget that could be spent on buying all the milk produced in Poland.
As Sawicki pointed out, the program is to make people get used to drinking milk and it is already noticeable that the number of schools and students participating in it increases every year.
The program has been operating in Poland since 2004, but it developed in 2007, after the introduction of subsidies from the national budget.
The President of the Agricultural Market Agency, Władysław Łukasik, reminded that the program was modified and the amended act was awaiting the president’s signature. It’s about how the program is financed. According to the new rules, the government – so far – determines the amount of funds for this purpose, and the president of the ARR sets limits for individual institutions.
The regulations were changed due to problems that arose in the last school year, when the number of interested schools increased and the ARR did not have enough money to finance this action. So it was necessary to reach for money from the budget reserve. In total, the program cost about PLN 220 million, of which PLN 57 million was provided by the European Union, and the remaining part – about PLN 163 million – came from the national budget. PLN 5 million was subsidized by the Dairy Promotion Fund.
You cannot implement a program that has no financial framework and stand in front of the pillory of public opinion that there is not enough money, the minister explained.
In his opinion, it was necessary to create a mechanism that would also force milk producers and suppliers to behave in a more pro-market manner. He added that these companies should also want the milk to reach young people, because they are future regular consumers for this industry.
The government has not yet approved the amount for the upcoming school year, which it will allocate for a glass of milk, but – according to Łukasik – the draft regulation foresees that it will be PLN 125 million.
In our opinion, this money should be enough – said the head of the Agency.
Łukasik announced that Poland is a leader in the implementation of the glass of milk program. In the 2009/2010 school year, 2,8 million children participated in it, i.e. by 400 thousand. more than a year earlier. The program is implemented in 17,2 thousand. educational institutions, which means that it is attended by 21 percent. more schools than in 2008/2009.
According to nutritionists, milk is the most easily available source of calcium, it contains all the ingredients necessary for the body, incl. a protein that is the basic building block of cells and bones.
The Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics estimates that in 2009 milk consumption in Poland amounted to 188 liters per capita and was approx. 2 percent. higher than in 2008. The consumption of milk in our country in 1990 was over 240 liters per capita. In the EU, the average consumption of this product is 350 liters per person. (PAP)