Today the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Jose Mai, along with the FAO Representative for Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Belize, Dr. Crispin Moreira and Chief Education Officer Ms. Yolanda Gongora visited the Guinea Grass Roman Catholic School to get a firsthand look at the feeding program implemented in the school.

This feeding program comes through the collaboration of the Governments of Belize and Mexico and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as part of a program where 488 primary school students are receiving a free, healthy meal daily.

As a part of the initiative, six schools in Belize received infrastructure upgrades to existing kitchens or conversion of spaces into kitchens and outfitting with new appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, stoves, and utensils like pans, pots, serving tools and baking materials. In addition, the Ministry of Education is providing ongoing funding for the purchasing of provisions for the feeding program. Schools benefiting from these upgrades include Biscayne Government School, Chan Chen Government School, Guinea Grass RC, Lucky Strike Government School, Santa Martha Government School and San Joaquin RC.

Present at the visit was also Chief Agriculture Officer Dr. Victoriano Pascual; National School Feeding Project Coordinator Mrs. Kathleen Juan, and other technical officers from the Ministry of Agriculture.