Two figures have become "big": one is that after school starts in the autumn of 2021, the dietary subsidy standard of the Chinese government's "nutrition improvement plan for students in rural compulsory education" has increased from 4 yuan to 5 yuan per student per day, an increase of 1 yuan. Another figure is that the height monitoring data of 2.27 million students in 71 poverty relief counties show that the height of 15-year-old boys in rural areas in underdeveloped areas is 155.8 cm in 2012 and 166.1 cm in 2020, 10.3 cm higher; At the same time, 15-year-old girls also increased by about 8 cm. (China Youth Daily, December 22) The "nutrition improvement plan for students in rural compulsory education" has been implemented since 2011. The purpose is to improve the health level of rural students, especially those in poor areas and families with financial difficulties. Over the past 10 years, the central government has allocated a total of 1967.34 billion yuan for students' nutritional and dietary subsidies. By the end of 2020, 131600 rural compulsory education schools in 28 provinces had been covered, benefiting a total of 37.9783 million students. Compared with the scene before the implementation of the plan, the diet and nutrition of rural children have significantly upgraded today. The direct change brought about by the livelihood improvement plan is that the relevant health indicators of rural children have increased significantly. For example, the qualified rate of physical health of beneficiary students has increased from 70.3% in 2012 to 86.7% in 2021, the average height has increased by about 10cm, and the weight is also rising; For example, the anemia rate decreased from 19.2% to 9.6%, and the malnutrition rate, weight loss rate, dwarfism rate and even parasite detection rate also decreased significantly. For these changes that have appeared, some people vividly describe the children as "shining with some sunshine". This is one of the best livelihood projects invested by China's financial funds. After assessment, some organizations believe that the return on investment of the nutrition improvement plan is about 5.24-5.96. For every 1 yuan invested, the return is 5-6 yuan. Then he thought it was a "very cost-effective investment". From the actual observation, the real rate of return may be higher than the evaluation result, because some rates of return can be measured by figures, but some returns may not be reflected by figures, and even some returns take many years to show. For example, the plan not only directly changed the height, weight and other health indicators of rural children, but also indirectly brought confidence and competitiveness to rural children. Relatively speaking, a number of health indicators are easily reflected in figures or returns through calculation, but they may not be able to accurately calculate the positive role played by rural children in school, employment, entrepreneurship, integration into the mainstream society and improving happiness index. For another example, this plan is conducive to narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, promoting social equity and improving the national image, which should also be regarded as a return on investment. Of course, relevant institutions recognize that the rate of return on investment is a "conservative measurement". The author believes that what specific changes this plan has brought to rural children, rural families and education, medical care, society, economy and politics, it is advisable to comprehensively sort out and systematically inventory, and disclose the detailed information in the form of a list. What can be reflected in numbers can be reflected in numbers, and what can not be reflected in numbers can be presented in cases. In short, the investment value of "feeding" rural children in China can not be measured conservatively, let alone underestimated. Only an accurate and objective view will be conducive to the better implementation of the plan. At the same time, we should also see some problems. For example, there have been many incidents related to campus food safety, which have affected the implementation effect of the above plan and the actual return on investment. These problems must be effectively avoided in the future. In addition, as the number of rural students decreases, the plan should be fully extended to rural preschool education. With the rise of prices and economic development, it is better to link the dietary subsidy standard with relevant indicators and automatically increase it, so that rural children can enjoy the fruits of national development in time. (outlook new era)