Saint Lucia responds to UN “Zero Hunger Challenge”
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Government is strengthening school feeding programs by establishing school gardens in order to use the food grown to provide school lunches.

The Government of Saint Lucia has partnered with the Saint Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) on a pilot project aimed at strengthening the School Feeding Program.

The strengthening of the feeding program is part of the action plan of Saint Lucia’s Food and Nutrition Policy and is being spearheaded by the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Health and Social Transformation with support from the Government of Brazil and corporate sponsors like LUCELEC.  The project is also part of St. Lucia’s response to the “Zero Hunger Challenge” made by the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The initiative includes the upgrade of school kitchen facilities where necessary, and the establishment of school gardens using greenhouse and irrigation technologies. The intent is to incorporate the food grown in the gardens into each School Feeding Program.

Thirteen primary schools across the island have been chosen to participate in the initiative.

On Monday, Nov. 3, The LUCELEC Trust Company Inc.—the philanthropic arm of LUCELEC—signed a Letter of Commitment with the Government of Saint Lucia to partner on a pilot project aimed at strengthening the School Feeding Program. The LUCELEC Trust is contributing $18,000 to the programme. The funding will establish a school garden at the Vieux Fort Primary School.

LUCELEC Corporate Communications Manager, Roger Joseph, presented the cheque on behalf of the LUCELEC Trust. He said support of the School Feeding Program ties into one of the major goals for the Trust.

“There are many commendable features of this project. But what appeals to us is the opportunity to inculcate a love of sustainable farming and the practice of it in our young people,” he said. “Perhaps this may spark the revolution in farming that we so desperately need as a country. We may be growing the next generation of farmers who will grow the food that they eat, and the country eats, and we may finally solve not just our food import bill problem in the near future, but also some of the diet related health issues that we are currently battling with, and that we will continue to battle with, if we do not change our eating habits.”