WFP Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project Furnishes Meals and Boosts Agricultural Development in Linxia County

Views of the central kitchen that serves the World Food Programme (WFP) Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 report released by the UN notes that although China has made remarkable progress improving nutrition in its borders, over 6.9 million children age five and younger who mostly live in impoverished areas and may be left behind by parents working as migrant labourers continued to experience malnutrition and slowed growth.

In 2018, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched a multi-year initiative designed to make healthy, balanced meals available at preschools and kindergartens and help poverty-stricken households get involved with associated market value chains in alignment with national targeted poverty alleviation programmes so as to boost incomes and consolidate poverty alleviation achievements known as the Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in two poverty-stricken counties in Hunan Province’s Xingxi Tujia and Miao Prefecture, and it was gradually expanded and implemented in other areas.

In March 2021, the pilot project was implemented in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, and local kindergarten students began receiving nutritious meals that incorporate fresh local produce and conform to the dietary habits of the local ethnic minority groups that they are part of. The process of building a relatively stable, low-cost localised supply chain has also bolstered the catering company and cooperatives that are involved and helped the local agricultural industry develop in general.

The project team selected a catering company from a group of applicants after a comprehensive evaluation and screening process was conducted based on criteria such as possession of necessary facilities, equipment, and qualification licenses; supply chain capacity, and ability to benefit local farmers. Nutritionists also formulated several sets of seasonal recipes that factored in the nutritional content and availability of local ingredients in accordance with the findings of a baseline survey that was conducted at the beginning of the project.

The catering company established an office dedicated to meal distribution, built a central kitchen that procures ingredients for the seasonal recipes that were written and compiled and processes them, takes charge of quality control, and distributes hot, fresh meals to the tables of the kindergartens that are involved with the project and provides breakfasts to more than 1,700 students at eight kindergartens as of summer 2023.

Farmers pick vegetables that are used as ingredients for the meals that are served to kindergarten students through the WFP Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County.

An industrial development model that involves the pilot project, the catering company, cooperatives, fruit and vegetable production bases, and farmers and enables them to benefit from an inclusive supply chain was implemented, and the catering company signed purchase agreements for agricultural products such as meat, eggs, and vegetables with 3 farmers’ cooperatives and 55 smallholder farmers in Linxia County. The company has effectively promoted the development of local farmers’ cooperatives and created new sources of income for the farmers who have been incorporated into the industrial chain. The sustainable development path that the project has facilitated has promoted industrial transformation in the area and made it possible for a total of 101 local households to benefit by supplying ingredients for meals, leasing their land, working at agricultural bases, and getting involved in other ways as of summer 2023.

In February 2023, the catering company established a standardised and comprehensive pastry processing and production factory featuring fully automated production lines and a packaging line that is mostly used to produce breakfast pastries for 206 nine-year compulsory education schools in Linxia County. Job opportunities have become available for villagers who live in the area at the facility and driving the dedicated delivery vehicles that are used to distribute the food that it produces, including for those who have returned to their hometowns after working in other areas.

The catering company also built a cloud data centre and big data platform that integrate everything from direct-from-origin ingredient procurement to central kitchen processing to meal-purchase contract signing with various organisations throughout the entire industry chain, which has broadened sales channels for producers of agricultural products in the area both online and offline, and is currently supplying meals for more than 30 boarding schools and government agencies in the county.

The WFP project has also improved agricultural standardisation in the region as food safety and production standards are higher than average for children’s meals and enabled the catering company to diversify its business and expand its central kitchen from the small facility that existed three years ago into the large factory that exists today.

“The WFP pilot project functions as a platform that has enabled us to boost the development of our enterprise and extend our industrial chain,” noted Ma Zhihui, manager of the catering company that serves the project in Linxia. “We must seize the opportunity to improve our capacity and the level of service that we provide so that all of the children in the county can enjoy healthy and nutritious meals.”

Baskets of tomatoes in the central kitchen that serves the World Food Programme (WFP) Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province

A view of the central kitchen that serves the World Food Programme (WFP) Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province

A view of the central kitchen that serves the World Food Programme (WFP) Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province

A view of the central kitchen that serves the World Food Programme (WFP) Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province

A view of the central kitchen that serves the World Food Programme (WFP) Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in Linxia County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province

A view of the WFP Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in action in Linxia

A view of the WFP Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in action in Linxia

A view of the WFP Preschool Nutrition Improvement Pilot Project in action in Linxia

A schedule outlining the children's breakfasts that are served in the county on different days of the week

For more information, please contact WFP China COE (wfpcn.coe@wfp.org)

Related Link:

Digital School Meals Monitoring System: Promoting Children's Nutrition and Inclusive Rural Development

http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2023-07/19/content_92955687.shtml

WFP Preschool Nutrition Improvement Project In Hunan

http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2022-08/24/content_78386019.shtml