WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2003 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that it will donate 670 metric tons of U.S. agricultural commodities to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), a private voluntary organization, for a child education and nutrition project in Benin. The commodities, which include 450 metric tons of rice, 140 tons of lentils and 80 tons of sunflower oil, are part of a USDA assistance package valued at around $4.1 million for this project.
CRS will provide the commodities to 61 primary schools through each school’s management committee. The commodities will be used to improve student enrollment and attendance by providing a daily breakfast and lunch to 12,500 students for two school years.
The donation will be made under the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service.
The McGovern-Dole program provides for USDA donations of agricultural commodities to promote education, child development and food security for some of the world’s poorest children. USDA expects to provide 150,000 tons of U.S. commodities to 21 countries under fiscal 2003 McGovern-Dole donation agreements.
For further information, contact Juli Majernik of FAS at (202) 720-9434, or by e-mail at Juli.Majernik@fas.usda.gov.
FAS news releases are available on the Internet at http://www.fas.usda.gov.
#PR 0224-03
