PHNOM PENH, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on Monday provided grant aid of 10 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia for implementing and expanding the Home-Grown School Feeding Program, said a World Food Programme Cambodia (WFP)'s press statement.
"This is the first grant assistance supported by the KOICA," the statement said. "It will be implemented over a period of 57 months between 2020 and 2024."
WFP-Cambodia will execute, oversee, and provide technical support to the project, based on its long-standing management of the school-feeding program and the existing cooperation with the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, it said.
"The grant will contribute to linking school feeding to improved nutrition wellbeing and rural development by stimulating agricultural growth and increased food security through the purchase and use of locally produced food in the preparation of daily school meals," the statement said. "It will benefit both school children and smallholder farmers."
The project will target about 65,000 children who study in food-insecure areas in Kampong Thom, Kampong Chhnang and Pursat provinces, with high rates of malnutrition and poor education indicators, it said.
It will also help generate income for 750 smallholder farmers who will become the food suppliers for the program, the statement added.
