October 17, 2023.- The Deputy Delegate of the Government in Valladolid, Alicia Villar today stressed the importance of the 2023 Program of food aid to the most disadvantaged people of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, through the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund. It is an aid that, together with the accompanying measures, aimed at facilitating the social inclusion of people who need it, is fundamental for many people and families in a vulnerable situation.
The Subdelegate of the Government in Valladolid has received the heads of the associated distribution organizations designated in the province: the president of the Food Bank, Jesús Mediavilla, and the president of the Red Cross, Juan José Zancada, who have informed him of the details of this second phase of the operation.
The 2023 Program in Valladolid is developed, as well as at the national level, in two phases: the first, which was in spring, and this second, which begins these days.
The food has already been distributed in the Storage and Distribution Centers of the Spanish Red Cross and the Food Bank, which are already reaching the final beneficiaries: individuals, families, households or groups that are in a situation of economic poverty as well as the homeless and other people in a situation of special social vulnerability.
Basic Feeding
The food basket consists of products that are easy to transport and store, little perishable and, above all, basic in nature. In this installment, it includes rice, cooked chickpeas, canned tuna and sardines, alimentary paste—spaghetti and noodles—fried tomato, biscuits, vegetable sour, canned fruit, cooked beans, soluble cocoa, childish tarritos—fruit and chicken—and pork lean. This allows you to easily prepare a meal for one person or for a family with several members, including babies.
In Valladolid, 312,017 kilos of food are distributed free of charge in this second phase, for a value of 564,375 euros.
With this, in this year 2023, around 458,000 kilos of food will have been distributed between the two phases, in the province of Valladolid, with a value that exceeds 807,000 euros.
In Castilla y León, about 1.3 million kilos of food will be distributed free of charge in this second phase, with a value that exceeds 2.3 million euros.
In the province of Valladolid, there are currently 9,451 people in a situation of social or economic dependence. In the first phase, 9,898 people turned to this help.
Program 2023
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, through the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund, manages the Food Aid Program for the most disadvantaged people, which, in this edition, will have distributed at the end of the year, free of charge, 51 million kilos or liters of food throughout Spain, and which has involved the purchase of food through a public tender process for an amount of around 88.5 million euros.
This second supply phase involves the distribution of approximately 36 million kilos of food throughout Spain.
The Spanish Federation of Food Banks and the Red Cross distribute food among some 5,400 partner delivery organizations, for 1.26 million final beneficiaries.
Promote social inclusion
The programme includes the purchase of food purchased on the market; its supply to the storage and distribution centres of the distribution partner organisations; its distribution to the authorised distribution partner organisations; and the latter, in turn, delivering it free of charge to the most disadvantaged people, together with accompanying measures, which promote the social inclusion of people receiving this food aid.
All authorised distribution partner organisations are obliged to provide information on the closest social resources as a basic accompanying measure. The implementation of these accompanying measures is the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030.
The Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund buys and distributes food through a public tender procedure and appoints the associated distribution organizations by public resolution. Government delegations and sub-delegations in each province control and coordinate the process in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Food Banks and the Spanish Red Cross.
Since 1987
The European Union’s food aid programme comes as a result of the cold waves that hit Europe in 1986 and 1987. The European Commission decided to target the products stored in the intervention agencies of the Member States to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people.
In Spain, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund, has implemented food aid plans since 1987 without interruption.
In the province of Valladolid this aid has reached an average of approximately 16,000 beneficiaries per phase, making available during the last 10 years approximately 7.8 million kg/litre of food, and all this budgeted at almost 7.8 million euros.
Since these are European grants and in order to ensure the correct use of public money, this programme is subject to control mechanisms by officials of government delegations and sub-delegations.
For this reason, the subdelegate thanked her for her work, given that this year 2023 is the last year in which the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food participates in the program. From 2024, the ministries of Labor and Social Economy and Social Rights and Agenda 2030 will articulate this aid in Spain as ‘Basic Material Assistance Program ESF+ 2021-2027’. The managing authority will be the support unit of the European Social Fund and the intermediate bodies the autonomous communities.