Pioneer's School Breakfast Nutrition Programme reaches 21,450 children daily

The programme provides bowl of Bokomo Pronutro, White Star Instant Maize Porridge or Bokomo Corn Flakes, in addition to the lunch provided by the Department of Basic Education’s National Nutrition Programme.

“A key focus of our social investment effort is food security, where we seek to address malnutrition, obesity and stunted growth. Many of the children in our schools come from extreme poverty, with parents struggling to put food on the table. By providing breakfast to the children in need, we make sure they have the vitamins needed to concentrate throughout the day and hope to enable them to learn to their full potential and lead productive, healthy lives in the future,” said Nico Moloto, CSI manager for Pioneer Foods.

Mrs Ndleleni, principal of Lesaoana Intermediate School in QwaQwa in the Free State, said, “This has made a great difference to us, as we are a deeply rural school. We tried to feed the children ourselves but could not because of the financial constraints. With Pioneer’s programme, the children have breakfast every day and those learners who never used to come to school are now here at 7am. Teachers have reported a marked improvement in discipline and performance since the nutrition programme was introduced.”

According to the United Nations’ Children’s Fund, malnutrition compromises cognitive development and children’s immune systems, making them more susceptible to diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.