Brazil invests $12 bln in "Zero Hunger" programs
Brazil has invested 27 billion reales (12 billion US dollars) in the country's Zero Hunger food security programs since they began in 2003, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced on Monday.
In his radio show called Coffee With the President, Lula detailed the results of one of the projects in the Zero Hunger family: "Family Budget", a tax transfer program which gives families below the poverty line additional monthly income.
In October, Family Budget reached eight million Brazilians and by the end of December it would reach 8.7 million, the president said. Besides feeding Brazilians, it guarantees regular school forchildren and medical attention for expectant mothers, he said.
"It is a successful program and it will be even more successful," he said.
Last week the Inter-American Development Bank said it would lend Brazil one billion dollars to help reinforce the program.
Family Farming, which is also part of the Zero Hunger initiative, will spend nine billion reales (four billion dollars) buying crops from the 2005/2006 harvest from small farmers.
The Milk Program, another part of the initiative, buys milk from small farmers and distributes it to 2.6 million poor Brazilians.
(Published Xinhuanet, October 25, 2005)
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