WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2003 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that it will donate 9,300 metric tons of U.S. agricultural commodities to Mercy-USA for Aid and Development (MUSA), a private voluntary organization, for a child education and nutrition project in Albania. The commodities, which include 9,000 tons of hard red winter wheat, 100 tons of medium-grain milled rice, 50 tons of great northern beans and 150 tons of vegetable oil, are part of a USDA assistance package valued at around $3.2 million for this project.
MUSA will use the commodities to provide school lunches for 32,000 students for one academic year. This program aims to improve attendance and educational performance, reduce the dropout rate, and improve the hygiene and health knowledge of the students.
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 Joseph Merton of FAS at (202) 720-0761, or by e-mail at Joseph.Merton@fas.usda.gov.
FAS news releases are available on the Internet at http://www.fas.usda.gov.
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