Cox, Namdevco insist: Hampers for students 'of good quality'

Minister of Social Development and Family Services Donna Cox has toured the Namdevco packing house in Piarco and determined that hampers being distributed to children registered under the National School Feeding Programme contain produce of sufficient quality and quantity.

Cox's tour was in response to several complaints and images being circulated on social media suggesting t the hampers contained paltry amounts of substandard food items.

In a release issued by the ministry on Tuesday Cox said, “It would seem that some (people) are being mischievous and removing items from the bags before they take photos to post for circulation on social media.”

She said despite the complaints, she was happy with the quality and quantity of items in the boxes. “I am confident that this initiative is a very good one.”

She was accompanied on Tuesday's tour by permanent secretary Sheila Seecharan, Namdevco CEO Nirmala Debysingh-Persad and deputy chairman Wayne Inniss.

Debysingh-Persad said the hamper boxes contained fruits and vegetables, provision and milk that would provide a “balanced and nutritional meal” for the children.

The hamper initiative is a joint effort of the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, GrowTrinbago and Namdevco (National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation).

In an e-mailed response to questions from Newsday, Namdevco communications public and stakeholder relations manager Marisa Bernard said the company was tasked with co-ordinating the procurement, packaging and distribution of 79,000 “fresh produce baskets” to families whose children received meals through the National School Feeding Programme.

She said the Ministry of Education was responsible for co-ordinating the recipients and the Ministry of Agriculture delivered the boxes. She said school supervisors were contacted before delivery to arrange for collection.

Bernard said the produce was procured from farmers registered in Namdevco’s farm certification and monitoring programme.

“The programme ensures the judicious use of pesticides, the adoption of integrated pest management and record-keeping, making the farmer compliant with all the relevant requirements for good agricultural production,” said Bernard.

“Food safety and quality in fresh produce, at production, harvesting, post-harvest handling, packaging, storage and transportation stages are of paramount importance to the project.”

Each hamper box costs $250 and includes pineapple, melons, bodi, tomatoes, cucumbers, callaloo bush, plantain, sweet peppers, melongene, cocoa and milk.

Cox said since distributions began on November 20, several recipients have expressed their gratitude. She also said she was happy the initiative had created a local market for farmers.

She said she hoped the children would “take example” and consider agriculture as a possible career choice.

Seecharan said the initiative would cost taxpayers $19,750,000.

Distributions will be done during a three month period, from November 30 to February 12, 2021.

Namdevco said it intends to distribute 1,300 packages a day. It has already distributed to areas including Fyzabad, Mayaro South Oropouche, Moruga, Rio Claro, Princes Town, Marabella, Pleasantville, Caroni, Couva, El Dorado, Arima, St Augustine Maloney, La Horquetta, El Socorro, Tacarigua, Aranguez, Blanchisseuse, Carenage, Diego Martin, Sangre Grande, Valencia and Tamana.