The National Co-ordinator of the School Feeding programme, Mr Micheal Nsowah The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) which was introduced by the government three years ago has in the past years, improved school enrolment, increased school attendance and retention among school children in most deprived communities in Ghana.

Addressing the media today in Accra, the National Co-ordinator of the School Feeding programme, Mr Micheal Nsowah disclosed that, enrolment and attendance has increased by 20.3% and 19.3% compared to an average of 2.8% and 3.2% respectively in non-GSFP schools.

Mr Nsowah stated that, currently 987 public schools with 477,714 children in all the 170 districts in Ghana are benefitng from the School Feeding Programme and by the end of the first phase in 2010, the programme should benefit 1,040,000 pupils.

Mr Micheal Nsowah noted that, children in the public primary school and kingdergartens benefiting from the GSFP enjoy nutritious meals prepared from locally grown foodstuffs on every school going day which has led to a reduction in child mortality rate and child health related diseases.

He said the use of the locally produced foodstuffs was a strategy to provide a ready market for local farm produce, leading to wealth creation for rural households.

'With more incomes, local farmers can afford the additional food intake and other items needed to improve their nutritional status to eliminate short term hunger and malnutrition,' he noted.

The Minister for Information and National Orientation, Hon Stephen Asamoah Boateng appealed to all Ghanaians not to shy away from our locally produced dishes but rather patronise to boost production.

He encouraged the local farmers to grow more food to feed the children and also to improve national food security.

Source: (Sheila Halm-Quartey& Lydia Adjei –Yeboah)