The School Feeding Programme has failed to meet its enrollment target of about 1,040,000 for its first phase which ended in December last year, according to official information. Briefing the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development on the retargeting of the programme, officials of the School Feeding Programme indicated there were currently 713,631 pupils on the programme. These pupils are spread across the 170 districts of the country. According to them, the feeding programme, which was aimed at feeding pupils in deprived schools, could not meet its target because of the suspension of the Dutch government’s support for one year. The first phase of the programme, implemented over a 5-year period (2006-2010), was envisaged to cover about 200,000 pupils in the first year and an additional 300,000 pupils each year for the remaining years, up to about a cumulative 1,500,000 children by the year 2010. It was expected to be expanded to cover all pre and primary children in the country. The programme was initiated by the President Agyekum Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to provide one hot nutritious meal, prepared from local foodstuff, for selected school pupils on every school going day. It was supposed to have ended last year but the current administration has since extended it for one more year. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Minister of Local Development and Rural Development, who has the oversight responsibility of the feeding programme, told the Parliamentary Committee that the programme was being retargeted because it failed to identify the targeted groups. Members of Parliament, he indicated, were expected to play a key role in the successful implementation of the programme, hence the briefing. The Programme, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo noted, was replete with difficulties that had made donor partners to withdraw their support. The Local Government and Rural Development Minister further observed that the essence of the programme was to target less endowed schools so as to increase school enrollment and retention. According to him, the violation of the selection criteria and the concentration of beneficiary school pupils in the urban cities, instead of the poor rural communities, had necessitated the retargeting exercise, saying it would aim at making pupils in deprived schools benefit more from the feeding programme. Accordingly, schools that were already benefiting but did not need the feeding programme would be taken off and the facility made available to the less endowed ones. The minister pleaded with the Members of Parliament whose constituent schools pupil would be affected by the retargeting exercise to bear with the programme officials. Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo said the retargeting was necessary to achieve the desired impact on school enrollment and retention, especially in deprived areas, adding that the exercise would rekindle interest and support of the donor partners. Francis Y. Gyarko, Deputy National Coordinator of the Programme, said information on the menu chart collated so far from the districts indicated that 65 percent of the foodstuff was bought locally from catchment areas. He indicated that although there had been a linkage of farmers to caterers, as envisaged, challenges still existed because as per design of the programme, 80 percent of feeding cost should be spent on local farm produce. The programme, Mr. Gyarko disclosed, was currently being evaluated to feed into a proposal for the redesigning of the next phase for the consideration of government. According to him, the Royal Netherlands Embassy had agreed to fund the evaluation exercise whilst the World Food Programme and another donor partner had both expressed interest in supporting the redesigning of the next phase.