U.S. pledges 20 mln USD to WFP for school feeding in Cambodia

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U.S. pledges 20 mln USD to WFP for school feeding in Cambodia

(Xinhua) 17:55, October 08, 2013

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The United States has pledged 20 million U.S. dollars over the next three years to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to carry out school feeding program in Cambodia, said a WFP press release on Tuesday.

The statement said the donation, made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, would allow WFP to provide meals to 153,000 pre- school and primary school children, as well as take-home rations for 12,000 students in grades 4 to 6 from very poor households, in 863 primary schools in three provinces: Battambang, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom.

"A daily healthy breakfast at school is an effective way to give children the energy and nutrients they need to grow and learn, as well as giving parents an extra incentive to send their children to school," said WFP Cambodia Representative Gianpietro Bordignon. "This is an important part of WFP's efforts to alleviate child hunger and support the Cambodian government to achieve universal primary education here in Cambodia".

For the 2013-2014 school year, the U.S. would make available 2, 600 metric tons of rice, 210 metric tons of yellow split peas and 70 metric tons of vegetable oil, for a total value of 5.5 million U.S. dollars, he said.

WFP has been implementing school feeding program in Cambodia since 1999. Last year, the program reached more than 450,000 children in 4,275 primary schools.

"This represents close to two thirds of all primary schools in Cambodia and covers 15 out of 24 provinces," the statement said.

The U.S. is one of the top five donors to WFP's operations in Cambodia, it added.

（Editor：WangXin、Hongyu）