Lunch program connects African schools with local farms
Some 120,000 school children in five African countries are participating in an innovative United Nations feeding program that sources food directly from local farmers.
Around 5,000 family farmers and 424 schools in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Senegal participated in the initial pilot year. The program, run by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and theWorld Food Programme (WFP), is based on a similar program in Brazil that purchases food for school lunches from farms near where the schools are located.
The program seeks to tackle a variety of development topics, such as nutrition, child development and education, rural development and poverty reduction.
As the first year of the Purchase from Africans for Africa Programme (PAA)Â wraps up, initial results appear promising.
A benefit of the program has been the creation of supply chains and predictable market conditions where none existed before. The program has also reported improved farmer income and better academic retention for students.
FAO has provided technical support in all five PAA nations by supporting governments, farmers and farmers' associations  in improving sustainable food production. WFP has provided support for procurement and distribution mechanisms.
The program has received partial funding from Brazil's Ministry for Agrarian Development and National Council for Food and Nutritional Security (CONSEA) and the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID). For the second year, the Brazilian and British governments will continue support with additional funding.
Photo: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
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