Three cities and three counties in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, including Tongliao city, are providing 250 grams of milk per day for a total of 280 days to pregnant women who follow the region's family planning policy.
This project is hailed in local media as having "Inner Mongolian characteristics and family planning features" and will be carried out on a trial basis this year. The government will invest about CNY17 million in the project which is expected to benefit about 50,000 pregnant women over the year.
Inner Mongolia plans to expand the project in 2010 to cover all women in the region who become pregnant, according to the local family planning policy. It is estimated that it needs to invest CNY100 million each year after the project is fully extended.
Wangsu Budao, the director of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Population and Family Planning Commission, stated that the project will not only help lessen the difficulties of women in the farming and husbandry regions, but will also drive up the domestic demand of the region as well as expanding the market for the region's dairy industry.
