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The Dutch government, major sponsor of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has decided to restore its support for the programme after a two-year suspension. An assessment carried out by the Dutch authorities on the programme last June, according to Mr Michael Nsowah, Coordinator of the programme, shows that the programme now has in place good procurement and management measures. "I can say with confidence that the Dutch government will resume funding the programme any time soon," Mr Nsowah told the Times in Accra on Thursday. The Dutch government in 2007 suspended its support to the programme following an audit report in 2006 which indicted the programme of managerial impropriety and bad procurement practices. The government last year undertook a restructuring exercise to put the programme back on track. Mr Nsowah said the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, had written to the Dutch authorities to inform them about the corrective measures. He said following that the Dutch authorities in June sent a team that validated the report and decided to restore their supports. Although no clear date had been given as to when the funding would resume, Mr Nsowah said it would not be long. "The response in the validation report is positive." He said the 2008 Auditor-General's report on the programme showed vast improvement in the management of the programme and the anticipated resumption of the assistance would give the government a respite after supporting the programme single handedly for sometime. In a related development, Mr Nsowah said the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation was exploring the possibility of assisting small scale farmers in the country to boost food production, so that they can also support the programme. The basic concept of the programme is to provide children in public primary schools and kindergarten with one nutritious meal prepared from locally grown foodstuff, on every school going day. The GSFP covers about 645,000 school children in selected deprived schools across the country and has the target of covering over one million pupils by 2010. The immediate objective of the programme is to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention with the ultimate long-term objective of poverty reduction and improving food security by relying on locally grown foodstuffs.