The China Charity Federation (CCF) announced Monday a donation of US$60,000 from the Kraft Foods Co. to provide more nutrition for pupils in a county in west China's Shaanxi Province.

The donation includes a year's free lunches with balanced nutrition for 500 pupils and their teachers in a primary school, the only school in Zichang County, said Malina Yung, director of Children's Fund International of the CCF.

With an annual per capita income of 1,340 yuan (about US$167.5), the county is one of China's poorest areas.

The Kraft Foods Co., the world's second largest food and beverage corporation, will also provide training to cooks of the school to cook more healthy dishes, she said.

Andrew Phillips, vice president of Kraft, said that the company aimed to raise among the public a sense of support for remote and poor areas.

Children in rural parts are faced with under-nutrition, according to statistics released by the Information Office of the State Council last October.

Around 17 percent of the children suffer from slow development and the weight of 9.3 percent of them is below the standard. In poor rural areas, these figures are 29.3 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2005)