Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’addressed Plenary Session of the UNFSS +2 on School Meals today in Rome

Kathmandu: Addressing Plenary Session of the UNFSS +2 on School Meals today in Rome, Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ expressed commitment to enhancing investment on nutritious food supply, boosting enrollment & attendance, and improving learning outcomes of children.

‘Building resilience and increasing productivity in the face of climate change calls for ensuring smallholding farmers access to technology, fertilizers, markets, crop diversification, finance and resilient infrastructure ‘PM said,while addresing the UNFSS+2 on July 24 in Rome.

While addressing the opening segment of UNFSS+2 today as LDC Chair, Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ urged UN system and FAO to focus more on LDCs, advocating for food security and sustainable solutions.

“As such, 3.3 million children, including girls, all over the country are directly benefitting every day from the program. We have seen impressive results in school nutrition in boosting enrolment, attendance, and learning outcomes,” the PM said.

At the ‘plenary session on school meals powering food system transformation’, the PM said school meal programmes play a critical role in promoting student health, academic performance, and overall well-being.

Reassuring his commitment to the programme, Dahal said, “We have quadrupled the budget in the last five years for this purpose. In the current fiscal year, we have allocated 6 per cent of the total education budget to school meals. We are committed to further scaling up investment and resources for this important safety net.”

The Prime Minister talked about his government’s efforts to establish a sustainable home-grown school feeding model and expand local food production to ensure a diversified and nutritious food supply for school meals.

Nepal will graduate from LDC by 2026.

On the sidelines, Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina in Rome and a separate meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.