The Ministry of Social Development (Mides) will launch a food assistance plan, aimed at improving access to food for the most vulnerable population. Fixed and mobile points will be installed to distribute food in the metropolitan area and more dining rooms will be opened. Work will also be done with the departmental governments to increase attention to those who need it most.
The plan to increase food assistance will begin to be implemented in April of this year, informed the Minister of Social Development, Martín Lema, in dialogue with Presidential Communication. The hierarch explained that efforts are being made to correct the problems of food insecurity that have been registered in the country for many years, reinforcing the National System of Canteens.
One of the lines of action will be aimed at expanding the distribution mechanisms in the metropolitan area, through mobile devices, five in Montevideo and one in Canelones, which will travel through the most affected areas and far from the fixed delivery points in peripheral neighborhoods. .
“The advantage of the agile points is the arrival to the territory with greater ease and more accessibility, since people do not have to move to where there is a dining room or a fixed point. Mobile devices allow a tour of the territory and cover a greater number of people in different areas”, considered Lema.
Likewise, fixed distribution devices will be installed in the peripheral areas furthest from the city’s canteens. There will also be five in Montevideo and one in Canelones. Each circuit, both mobile and fixed, will distribute some 1,000 meals a day.
In addition to these devices, the portfolio plans to open more dining rooms, the chief announced. One was recently inaugurated in Ciudad del Plata, department of San José, and two new ones will open shortly in Montevideo: one on Rambla Roosevelt and Maciel, the other on Aparicio Saravia and Azotea de Lima.
The new devices and canteens will increase the number of daily meals served by the National Food Institute (INDA), from about 1,400 to about 10,000 in the metropolitan area. The coverage of the service will also be extended, which will be provided from Monday to Sunday. “In this new format, it is expected that there will be accessibility to food throughout the week,” said Lema.
In the interior, work will be done in coordination with the municipalities in those departments where, according to a study carried out in 2022, there are higher levels of food insecurity: Artigas, Rivera, Tacuarembó, Cerro Largo and Treinta y Tres.
The minister pointed out that the national government has managed to strengthen INDA and that it seeks to provide a structural response to overcome a problem that the country has had for decades. Mides was able to obtain the necessary resources to prepare this plan that will strengthen care. In 2023, the investment will exceed 400 million pesos, he said.
