Recife (Pernambuco), March 22, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation wants to invest in the construction of people's restaurants in medium and large cities to help in the war on hunger. According to Minister Patrus Ananias, a project based on partnerships with municipal governments and firms is already under study.

The government's intention is to establish partnerships by offering equipment and physical structure. In return, local administrations would grant the terrain and be responsible for the restaurant's operation.

"We shall prepare a budget and propose partnerships to the mayors of large cities or ones that show signs of more serious problems such as unemployment and violence," the Minister explained.

According to Ananias, firms would be approached in the second phase of the project. "We shall conduct a major campaign for firms to build restaurants as well," he said.

The Minister, who attended the closing ceremony of the II National Conference on Food and Nutritional Security, yesterday (21), responded to criticisms made by the Bishop of Duque de Caxias, Don Mauro Morelli, with respect to the Zero Hunger Program. (At the conference, on Friday (19), Morelli expressed his disappointment over the government's lack of self-criticism and the Administration's decision to substitute the former Minister and alter the political organization of the social sector prior to the conference.)

"We don't have a monopoly on the truth, and we always want to hear criticisms, but we have been in the government for a year and three months, and it was in this Administration, President Lula's, that the problem of hunger and malnutration was effectively placed on the agenda," he argued.

He recalled that, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), there are over 11 million families in the country that subsist on less than one dollar, around US$ 0.99 (R$ 2.90) a day.

"Zero Hunger and the food card are part of the Family Grant, which intends to reach 6.5 million families by the end of this year. This is my Ministry's assignment. It is evident that we shall not stand still, and we shall seek integrated actions within the government," he guaranteed.

Translator: David Silberstein