The United Nations food relief agency has urged governments in
West Africa subregion to spend more money on school meal programmes as these
investments not only contribute to children’s better future but also create
local jobs around agriculture, reports NaijaAgroNet.
“It is a win-win
opportunity which governments must seize,” said Abdou Dieng, UN
World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
“Children enjoy healthy meals that make it more likely that they will stay in
school and learn for a better future, while jobs are created and businesses
develop.”
The call was made on African
Day of School Feeding, annually observed on 1 March.
Increasingly, the food for the
meals is sourced from smallholder farmers within the community. The idea is
that home-grown school meals provide local farmers and businesses with a
predictable outlet for their products, leading to more stable incomes, more
investment, higher productivity and the creation of jobs for youth and women in
the communities concerned.
In Burkina Faso, the
introduction of yoghurt in school meals has had multiple benefits – a women’s
group that collects milk locally has recently set up a processing plant for
yoghurt that is now delivered to schools by young people on motorcycles.
Some governments in the region
are showing a growing interest in investing more in national school meals
programmes. The Government of Benin has allotted $47 million to feed 400,000
children over the course of five years in partnership with WFP, using a
home-grown school meals model.
WFP’s regional school meals
programme, which aims to assist about 2.7 million children this year, faces a
$60 million funding gap. Without proper financing, the programme will fall
short, leave many vulnerable students hungry and at risk of dropping out of
school.
