Safe Ingredients' Supply to Kindergartens Guaranteed by the Admission of Farmer's Children in the Appointed Kindergartens

In September 2018, the “Pilot Project for the Nutrition Improvement of Preschool Students in Xiangxi” (hereinafter referred to as the “project”) was officially launched by WFP. Supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas of the People's Republic of China and organized by WFP, it is an innovative pilot one and aims to improve the nutrition of rural preschool children. Longshan and Yongshun Counties, two poverty-stricken areas in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, China, were designated to be the first pilot counties in China in 2018.

There are two intervention measures in the project: Firstly, children have free access to nutritional meals in the relevant kindergartens so as to improve their nutrition and develop children’s bodies; Secondly, the project helps poor households to establish a stable procurement chain and encourages small holders to participate in the direct supply of meals.

The prerequisite to become the designated and contracted farmers in the project, the farmers need to have at least one child attending the appointed kindergartens. During the investigation and research, the WFP assessment team has found that if the households have children attending the appointed kindergartens, the safe supply of food ingredients for kindergartens can be greatly enhanced.

The Determination Process on Contracted Farmers

Previously, kindergartens usually purchased food ingredients from surrounding farmers. After the accession to the WFP project, the kindergartens need to determine the assistance targets, so they can convene teachers and hold a meeting to discuss about the planting scale of each child’s family and look for potential contracted farmers; Through the official accounts of WeChat, parents' meeting, nutrition knowledge dissemination, home visits, telephone and other methods, kindergartens increase publicity and find which farm household wants to become the food supplier for the kindergartens. Also, meetings are held and most participants are farmers with their children attending the kindergartens. Through the meetings, farmers learn more about the project. If they are willing to become the suppliers, farmers just need to meet the conditions proposed by the project management office (PMO). Kindergartens have no clear requirements on the type and quantity of food ingredients. By visiting and checking the farmers' production status, knowing about their agricultural output and production quantity, kindergartens will select farmers nearby with various planting varieties. In order to stabilize the supply of vegetables and for the sake of information exchanges, they tend to prioritize students' parents, and sign an agreement without strong constraints, which can reduce the search cost of both parties. After the contracted farmers are finally determined, kindergartens will submit the relevant information to the PMO for approval.

The Intervention Process of PMO

With the support of the project, the county-level PMO sets a poverty alleviation indicator of 4-5 farm households for each kindergarten on average. In the second half of 2019, the kindergartens in theproject have begun to provide assistance to small holders. Longshan County and Yongshun County directly provide farmers with 9 different vegetable seeds (cucumber, eggplant, cowpea, green bean, pepper, lettuce, cabbage and tomato) and organic fertilizer (150kg for each family in Longshan County and 240kg for each family in Yongshun County). Providing the fact that seeds can diversify farmers' planting varieties; Through the distribution of organic fertilizer and the provision of project supporting guide manuals containing information related to rational fertilization and production can help not only the PMO improve the intervention in increasing farmers' productivity in the production process, but also farmers' green production, so as to provide kindergartens’ children with a variety of healthy food. At the same time, the county-level agricultural authorities will also hold skills training on agricultural planting and animal husbandry production for farmers.

The Green Production of Farmers' Vegetables Planting

According to the survey, the intervention measures have reduced the application of chemical fertilizer to a certain extent. Most farmers apply organic fertilizer, farm manure and plant ash issued by the project office during vegetable planting, and rarely use chemical fertilizer and pesticides. With the intervention of the PMO, farmers' awareness of green production has been enhanced. They believe that agricultural products without or with less pesticides and fertilizers are healthier and more delicious. Small holders in Hongyanxi said that due to the limited use of less chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the vegetables produced are safer and healthier, and the vegetable prices are affordable than the greenhouse vegetables planted on a large scale. Therefore, their vegetables are more competitive in the market. According to the evaluation results by the assessment team, in the process of vegetable production, the final chemical fertilizer used in the intervention group was 97.41% lower than that in the baseline period, and the application amount of pesticide was 74.69% lower than that in the baseline period.

The Transaction Mode between the Kindergartens and Farmers

According to the seasonal ingredients provided by farmers and the nutritional requirements proposed by the PMO, kindergartens will update the kindergarten recipe every week and contact farmers based on the needs. Usually, they prefer to contact active farmers, but they also consider other contracted farmers as options. Farmers will also contact kindergartens actively. On the one hand, selling to kindergartens saves a lot of time and they do not have to wait for a long time in the market; On the other hand, they can send vegetables and children to school at the same time, so a lot of transportation costs can be saved. Since the PMO requires that 30% of the demand be supplied by the contracted farmers, kindergartens will make a report on the transactions with the contracted farmers subject to the review of the PMO. In the transaction process, the majority of farmers choose to contact the principals of the kindergartens actively, and most transactions happen between the kindergartens and the contracted farmers; The principals of the kindergartens will also contact the farmers by telephone and go to the field to check the quality of ingredients. Usually, the price of ingredients purchased from farmers will be slightly higher than the market price: First, kindergartens prefer to pay the farmers in a whole number. For example, the payment ought to be 23.5 yuan, but the principals of the kindergartens will pay 25 yuan voluntarily; Second, the PMO not only provides the means of production to the contracted farmers, but also establishes special assistance funds to indirectly subsidize the farmers through their transactions with kindergartens.

Quality Control from the Perspective of Kindergartens

Compared with the ingredients bought from the market, the ingredients produced by the parents of children in local kindergartens are more trustworthy. During the production process, the principals of kindergartens go to the field to check the quality of ingredients in the farms of nearby farmers. When purchasing ingredients, they also choose fresh and high-quality ones based on experience, and the color   and packaging of vegetables. For example, vegetables with wormhole marks usually have not been applied with pesticides. Because their own children also have meals in the kindergartens, farmers will use the organic fertilizer provided by the PMO for green production during the planting. Kindergarten teachers in the chat group will also share children's meals in the kindergartens with parents every day. In addition, the Health Supervision Bureau will inspect the ingredients of farmers and kindergartens from time to time.

Through the prudent selection of contracted farmers, the production process intervention by the PMO, the green production of kindergartens' children's parents, the transaction control and quality control from kindergartens, the safe supply of ingredients for kindergartens have been soundly guaranteed in the whole supply chain.