Assessing the Role of the School Farms Towards Sustaining the School Feeding Programs in Primary Schools in Siaya County, Kenya

Abstract

As a reaction to pledges in the Millennium Development Goals by the 189 nations of the United Nations member states, the Kenya government established a School Feeding program to deal with feeding of children in primary schools. This purpose of the study was to assess the performance of the programme in Siaya County. The specific objectives of the study were: To examine the adequacy of the National Schools Nutrition programme design and implementation, to compare academic- performance of those schools with and those without feeding programs and finally to establish the viability of school farms as an alternative source of sustainable food supply to primary schools in Siaya county. The study focused on Siaya and Bondo Districts in consideration that the two districts are of typical rural poor environment setting. The conceptual frame work of the study was based on the premise that an effective feeding program should be sustainable, that nutrition and academic performance are directly related and finally that a well developed school farm would offer a viable and sustainable food source. Multistage sampling was applied in three levels involving purposive, proportionate and random sampling. The study sample comprised 14 schools picked across the two districts. Data collection tools comprised questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. The study fmdings established that of the 27 schools which had nutrition programs 5years ago, only 14 had the program still running; but with support from parents and schools Board of Governors. Interview by Quality assurance officers from both Bondo and Siaya districts confirmed lack of government support to any feeding program in the county. It can therefore be concluded that government feeding program lacked sustainability mechanism inbuilt in both design and implementation. Research has shown that well nourished children, all factors being equal, exhibit ~tter performance in academics. On the basis of the schools mean score over a 5year period between school with and those without feeding program, the study showed that' performances were comparable. It can therefore be concluded there is no direct influence on academic performance between schools with and those without school feeding program in this county. Previous researches also show that with as low as 1.0 acres of farmland, and using modem farming methods and technology, it is possible to provide lunch to as many as 200 children all through the academic period when schools are in session. From the findings, all school sampled, had at least 5 acres of farm land. It can therefore be concluded that the schools in Siaya County have the potential to generate adequate food supply to students. This study thus recommends that the schools should embrace modem farming methods, as an initiative to grow food crops and thus realize sustainable feeding programs in primary