Schools in Guinea-Bissau will receive 2,400 tonnes of rice to be distributed during this school year as part of support for several West African countries, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Tuesday.
“Guinea-Bissau is one of the beneficiaries of the 2,400 tons of rice that will be distributed this school year by PAM; the aid is part of 11,500 tons of the basic product to meet food and nutritional needs,” the UN said in a statement, which said that beneficiaries in the region also include refugees in Mali and 107,000 children in neighboring Mauritania and Sierra Leone.
PAM provides hot meals to 180,000 students in 852 schools across the Portuguese-speaking country, and with the rice now announced, the needs of Guinean education centres should be covered for six months. The food complements a shipment of sardines from Japan.
“People ask: in Guinea-Bissau, with the sea, do you get and deliver sardines to schools? Yes, because we cannot supply fresh fish to schools due to factors that PAM does not control, such as the availability of electricity in schools and refrigerators,” says Talismão Dias, a specialist in the UN agency’s school canteen program.
The person in charge, in statements quoted by ONU News, emphasizes that “the energy has not yet reached rural communities.”
The note explains that local procurement will focus on beans, tubers and rice throughout the school year.
School meals and take-home rations provide protection for vulnerable families, encourage parents to keep their children in school, improve attention and reduce school dropout, the UN says.
This contribution comes in a context where the impacts of the climate crisis, conflict, insecurity and high fuel prices make food unaffordable for millions of vulnerable families in the region.
In Guinea-Bissau, PMA is working with 12 small farmer cooperatives to purchase local produce and aims to increase production to meet school canteen needs and household consumption, the note said.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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