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LA PAZ - Beginning this March, 10,417 children in rural schools in the municipalities of Entre Ríos and Padcaya will receive food supplied by WFP as part of a sustainable school feeding programme.
This programme is part of WFP's country cooperation programme which is set to run until 2017. The main targets of the programme are the promotion of food security, food production, and nutritional awareness in the departments of Tarija, Chuquisaca, and Pando.
The first distribution of food will be of flour, oil and salt to the department of Tarija. The municipality of Entre Ríos will receive just over 27 metric tons that is to be distributed to 85 schools that will feed a total of 4,899 students. Meanwhile, Padcaya will receive 30.5 metric tons of food that will feed 5,518 students in 112 schools. In addition to the food used to prepare school meals the children will receive WFP micronutrient powder to further increase the nutritional value of their meals. The local governments of Entre Ríos and Padcaya complimented the WFP rations with fresh fruits and vegetables for the school meals.
WFP provides both municipalities with technical and logistical support with the aim that they will be able to manage the school feeding programmes with the use of their own resources. WFP also works hand in hand with smallholder farmers to assist in the implementation of producing crops that are suitable for school feeding programmes. The local governments can then purchase the produce from local smallholder farmers. Laying the foundation for sustainability and long term success of these programmes and creating a cycle of local economic development.
Through the implementation of the WFP's School Feeding Programme the expected total number of rural students to reach is 40,000 per school year within the departments of Tarija, Chuquisaca and Pando.
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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.
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For further information, please contact: (nombre.apellido@wfp.org): Ximena Loza, PMA/Bolivia, Tel. +591 2 2799011 ext. 2207, Mov. +591 77746168 Alejandro López-Chicheri, PMA/América Latina, Tel. +507 317-3900, Mov. +507 6671-5355
