BANGUED, Abra -- The search for the best backyard garden is now open to all Abreños residing in the province. This is one of the highlights of this year's National Nutrition Month celebration next month.

In a regular meeting of the members of the technical working group (TWG) of the Provincial Nutrition Council (PNC) headed by Leona Beroña, a series of activities has been outlined to observe this year's nutrition month celebration.

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The national nutrition month celebration focuses its theme on the prevention of lifestyle diseases, hence the theme "Wastong nutrisyon kailangan, lifestyle diseases iwasan."

The search for the best backyard garden will be monitored by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist in collaboration with the municipal agricultural officers (MAOs) of the 27 municipal governments. Entries will have to be submitted to the PNC-TWG through the MAOs for evaluation.

The following prizes will be sponsored by Governor Eustaquio Bersamin: First Prize - P5,000, Second Prize - P3,500, Third Prize - P2,000, and 10 consolation prizes at P1,000 each. The awarding will be done on July 30, 2009 at the provincial Capitol during the culmination of the nutrition month celebration.

Aside from the province-wide search for the best backyard garden, there will also be a weekly exercise program starting July 2 and every Thursday at 3-5 p.m. thereafter, free sugar monitoring every Friday starting July 3, and monitoring of outlets of iodized salt in the province.

The Thursday afternoon exercises will be participated by all Provincial Government employees and officials and participants from the national agencies and the private sector who are interested to join.

The free sugar monitoring will also be made available to all Provincial Government employees aged 45 years old and above. All interested parties are invited to go to the Abra Provincial Hospital every Friday for the extraction of their blood samples for testing.

Outlets of iodized salt shall also be monitored to ensure the sustainability of the iodization program of the National Government, which had earlier been adopted and implemented in the province of Abra.