Strengthening links in the food systems: innovative alliances between local agriculture and school feeding programs

Live broadcast - Thursday 27th may - 15:30 Chile time

Background

Latin America and the Caribbean faces major challenges, eradicating poverty and hunger; guaranteeing food security; and fighting all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Despite progress, in the last five years, the region has increased the number of undernourished people by 13 million, reaching the figure of 47.7 million people who would not be able to access to sufficient food.

Moderate or severe food insecurity affects almost 191 million people; overweight affects 260 million adults and obesity 106 million more. Stunting affects 4.7 million children under five, in this same age group, 3.9 million children are overweight and in schools, between 30% of children and adolescent are overweight1.

These alarming numbers take greater relevance in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Obesity and chronic non-communicable diseases, associated with poor diet, both represent risk factors for negative results from infection by COVID-19. Therefore, ensuring access and promoting healthy diets are actions required to achieve the goals established in the 2030 Agenda. The Regional overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020 reaffirms the potential of school feeding programs to promote adequate intake of macro and micronutrients among children and adolescents, which in turn could reduce morbidity, improve nutrition and health, and increase learning outcomes.

Over the last decade, school feeding interventions linked to local production have shown that strengthening the links between school feeding programs and smallholder producers can produce multiple benefits and create healthier and more sustainable food environments. In the fight against the double burden of malnutrition, building healthier food environments, food habits, and diets at school and at home is essential, and linking school feeding to the local production of healthy and nutritious foods could be a game-changer.

Family farming plays a crucial role in eradicating hunger and shifting towards more sustainable agricultural systems. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 80% of farms are in the category of family farming, including more than 60 million people representing the primary source of employment. They produce most of the food consumed at the house level in the Region; this gives them a fundamental role in contributing to a sustainable environment and conserving biodiversity. Family farming is also essential in the reactivation of rural economies, generating stability, strengthening social connections, and generating new opportunities, particularly for rural youth.

There are many successful examples and home-grown school feeding models in Latin America and the Caribbean. Experiences, lessons learned, and available evidence suggest that these approaches generate a more diverse, nutritious, and healthy diet at school. At the same time, becoming food providers to school feeding programs offer smallholder producers and their families an important market opportunity and a key safety net, primarily for the most vulnerable areas. Some evaluations have shown that becoming a supplier to school feeding programmes can increase the income of smallholders of up to 33%.2

Linking small and local agriculture to school feeding programs has been essential for maximizing the potential of school feeding and its impact in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. More than half of the countries in the Region have, to a different extent and scale, models that link smallholder producers to school feeding programs. During the last decade, most school feeding policies and laws hve gradually embedded local purchases, in many cases with a minimum threshold of at least 50%.

During the last FAO regional conference in Jamaica in 2018 and at a WFP conference in Mexico City in 2017, the importance of investing in nutrition-sensitive school feeding programs and linking it to local agriculture was among the key highlights. It is a priority for countries to continue supporting innovative policies and programs to fight against malnutrition in all its forms, including the double burden of malnutrition, an epidemic the Region is currently facing.

Linking school feeding programs to local agriculture can be a game changer and contribute to improving health, nutrition, and education outcomes and improving social protection and agriculture goals. This link is contributing to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Objectives and content of the webinar

In line with the joint efforts carried out by WFP, FAO, and IFAD supporting countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to promote more nutrition sensitive policies and programs, including home-grown school feeding, the three sister UN agencies are launching this webinar to discuss experiences, lessons learned, barriers and opportunities encountered so far.

This webinar aims to provide a regional overview at the current state of home-grown school feeding programmes and policies, including achievements and challenges and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Experiences from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras will be shared, addressing institutional, strategic and programmatic aspects, as well as the inter-institutional work and support from partners in developing these innovative approaches. Panelists from the three countries and partners will share their views and and experience on the subject, contributing to sharing knowlde, identify opportunities and challenges, and continue to consolidate efforts for the benefit of schoolchildren, their household and the community at large.