WFP Rockfeller Foundation launch scheme for nutritious school meals in India

According to a release, the Rockefeller Foundation announced a gift of $10.7 million for the initiative that WFP would undertake in India, Benin, Ghana, and Honduras. A new project was introduced on Wednesday by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Rockefeller Foundation to assist disadvantaged children in India in getting greater access to nourishing food through school lunch programmes.

The two-and-a-half-year plan will concentrate on promoting more nutrient-dense food across such programmes and including fortified foods into school meals. According to the organisations, kitchen gardens are anticipated to help 325,000 youngsters in Rajasthan.

According to a release, the Rockefeller Foundation announced a gift of $10.7 million for the initiative that WFP would undertake in India, Benin, Ghana, and Honduras.

According to a statement, the project seeks to reach more than 110 million schoolchildren in India through food fortification and communication campaigns that promote healthier eating. In India, the project will support the technical assistance provided by WFP to the government's school feeding programme.

For rice, wheat, and millet, the project will enhance supply networks and reduce food waste. Additionally, it will support small farmers by promoting local food production, and it will provide school chefs knowledge on the best nutrition practises for kids.More than a million pupils in Benin, Ghana, and Honduras are anticipated to gain something from the programme.

The head of WFP's school feeding division, Carmen Burbano, stated that the organisation and the Rockefeller Foundation "share a commitment to reducing hunger, improving food systems, and ensuring life-long prosperity for everyone."

The WFP's assistance for national school feeding programmes has been ongoing for 60 years, but this project goes much farther by attempting to change the institutions that provide food to schoolchildren and their families.

Tens of millions of children in the four nations receive their only consistent meal of the day through school lunches, according to Roy Steiner, senior vice president for the Rockefeller Foundation's food project. As it sparks more significant changes in the food chain, "expanding school feeding programmes in ways that promote the acquisition of extremely nutritious food would make those children healthier," he added.

The new initiative expands on a prior Rockefeller Foundation donation to WFP to combat child malnutrition in Burundi, Kenya, and Rwanda. The funds are a part of the Foundation's "Good Food" strategy, which aims to improve small- and medium-scale food producers' access to inexpensive, wholesome food while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions from the food chain.

India has the largest school food programme in the world, reaching 118 million kids with an annual investment of more than $1.6 billion. This is one of the more than 800 million people's monthly rations.

According to the statement, research have demonstrated that school lunch programmes may help disadvantaged populations' health, nutrition, and education while promoting local agriculture, markets, and healthier diets."However, nations frequently fail to supply enough wholesome nutrients to avoid malnutrition in school-age children "It read.