Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras/CNA

PMA contributes to strengthening children’s diet in Holguin

The project ¡Actúa Diferente!, from the World Food Program (PMA), contributes to strengthening the diet of children and young people through a healthy culinary culture from an early age in eastern Cuba, as was noted at its National Workshop in Holguin.

On the second day of the event, which brought together producers, specialists, and extension workers from the provinces of Guantanamo, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Las Tunas in this northeastern territory, participants toured social protection networks and supply systems related to it in the municipality of Urbano Noris.

Around 290 students from the semi-boarding school for Special Education Raúl Gómez García benefit from the actions promoted by the project, which established links with productive forms to provide fresh vegetables and root vegetables on a weekly basis at affordable prices.

Located in the town of San Germán, the school received donations of supplies for the preservation and cooking of lunches and snacks, including refrigerators, pans, stoves, hot water purifiers, mixers, and blenders, which enable the proper nutrition of the students and contribute to their overall development.

Zapatín Zaldívar emphasized that a valuable aspect is the students’ motivation for healthy food education, encouraged by the tasting and learning of cold and varied dishes, such as mixed salads, an impact that extends to their families and the community.

On the La Isabela farm, belonging to the Mario Muñoz Credit and Services Cooperative, farmer Gilberto Velázquez shared that in 2024, he supplied over four thousand kilograms of vegetables to the semi-boarding school, amidst periods of intense drought and the possession of obsolete equipment.

To increase productive capacity and humanize work on the nearly two hectares of land dedicated to the cultivation of beans, tomatoes, okra, and eggplant, ¡Actúa Diferente! provided a semi-protected cultivation house, an irrigation system, and other tools.

The visit also included the Local Poultry Development Project with Gender Equity, located at finca Calle 30 and a children’s circle, among others.

During the meeting, which concludes this Thursday, a series of activities were carried out, including conferences, experience exchanges, dissemination of research, and results from the first phase of implementation of the program, also known as Koica, which was launched in 2020.

In the 2021-2025 cooperation cycle, the World Food Programme (WFP) has had $57.9 million available for the execution of its projects in support of Food Security and Nutritional of Cuba.

With information from CNA

Translated by Aliani Rojas Fernandez