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Add to Preferred SourcesThe United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a four-million-euro (US$4.5 million) contribution from the European Commission that will help increase the quality and availability of food in Niger, where almost two million children are malnourished.
The funding from the European Commission’s International Cooperation and Develop-ment directorate (DEVCO) will allow WFP and French NGO GRET to support the pro-duction of more nutritious foods by local farmers’ organizations. It will also help identify ways for farming groups to win the trust of new consumers and thus increase their in-come.
“We are very grateful to the European Commission for its ongoing support and encour-agement to WFP’s projects in Niger. This generous contribution will not only help improve the nutritional quality and diversity of diets, but increase the overall food security of the people we support,” Benoît Thiry, WFP Niger Country Director.
Since 2011, WFP in Niger has sustained farmers’ organizations by buying locally some of the food it distributes, improve the quantity and quality of local production in the pro-cess. For its part, GRET has expertise in supporting production of fortified flour for in-fants. The new project builds on these initiatives’ success.
Improving nutrition is vital in Niger, where many women and children suffer from anaemia and nearly half of all children are stunted. The EU contribution helps WFP in its broader aim of ensuring an adequate nutritious diet at all stages of life, a building block for sustainable development and growth.
Original source: WFP.
Posted on 19 July. 2017.