From the school canteen to the family table: how vegetables consumed at school are changing eating habits in Benin

– 29 April 2026 –

School meals reach more than one million children in Benin, improving student attendance and reducing malnutrition. But for a long time, vegetables – rich in vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients – were missing from children’s plates, because they are perishable, difficult to store, and relatively expensive.

To address this, the World Food Programme (WFP) and partners including the World Vegetable Center, local NGOs, and farmers, launched a pilot project to integrate vegetables into school menus. The work has sparked interest and curiosity among children and adults, encouraging them to eat more vegetables at home too.

The pilot project focused on introducing vegetables like African basil, jute mallow, African eggplant and carrots into school meals for more than 2,200 children in ten schools in Djidja (Zou department). Each child received about 70 grams of vegetables per day.

It is not only the composition of the dishes that has changed, but also the children’s opinion of vegetables: They are beginning to like vegetables, even those they previously rejected. At home, parents are noticing this and adapting. “Now I ask my mother to add leaves to the sauce,” a schoolboy in Djidja told his teacher.

This story is not just about child nutrition. It reveals how children can become agents of change, how food systems can evolve to become sustainable, and how market gardeners can access new markets.

Through the pilot project, three ideas were investigated to support vegetable production for school canteens: growing vegetables in school gardens; encouraging local communities to supply vegetables; and ways to transfer resources to schools so they can buy vegetables locally.

Of these, the latter was implemented as it was a good fit with the WFP pilot project on cash-based transfers (CBT) in schools. Through management committees, schools now receive money directly via Mobile Money Benin – a digital payment service using cellphones – and they use it to purchase vegetables based on local tastes and availability.

At the same time, the WFP pilot project has opened up a new market for local farmers. Six producers from the Vegetable Business Network (VBN), Cooperative of Leaders for Agricultural Development Benin (CoLDA, by its French acronym), have supplied eight school canteens with 6.5 tons of vegetables worth nearly 7 million CFA francs (USD 12,000). It means school canteens are not only feeding children but also boosting local economies.

Jonas Adanto-Hounon, president of the management committee of CoLDA Benin, explained the role of the VBN:  “The WFP was looking for formalized cooperatives to supply vegetables to schools,” he said. “We were identified, selected, trained, and began deliveries. We started with four canteens: those of the Sozou, Ayogbé, Ahoyémè, and Danon-kpota public primary schools. Thanks to the quality of our products, our punctuality, and our compliance with the terms of the contract, we were awarded four more school canteens: Donan, Danmlonkou, Zadakon, and Adjanougon.”

He continued: “We supply the canteens with both leafy greens such as tchiayo (African basil), amaranth, gboman (African eggplant), horsehair (jute mallow), and other vegetables like carrots. Deliveries are made twice a week to each school, very early in the morning to guarantee freshness, enable efficient cooking, and ensure that meals are ready for the children’s lunch.”

After six months of collaboration with the WFP, CoLDA Benin has achieved a turnover of 6,508,800 CFA francs (USD 11,000).

“The project requires us to maintain regular production to meet the weekly needs of the canteens,” added Adanto-Hounon. “Payment is made through invoicing, which allows us to fully trace our products. We have a Mobile Money Benin account where we receive payments. The money is first transferred to the school’s account, and then the school transfers it to our account.”

WFP now plans to expand the project to 120 additional schools in eight municipalities in Benin.

The key lessons so far include:

• Giving schools autonomy and resources is essential. With cash transfers, school canteen managers know better than anyone else what to offer children.
• Working with local producers shortens supply chains and increases rural incomes.
• Starting with children helps shape the food culture of the next generation. Children’s enthusiasm is one of the drivers of change in the home.
• Working in synergy avoids the dispersion of resources and energy. This is what the WFP, World Vegetable Center, Wageningen University, Benin’s National Food and Nutrition Agency (ANAN) understood when they joined forces to tackle this major challenge.

Small plates, big impact

When vegetables are served on children’s plates in the cafeteria, something wonderful happens. Health improves; farmers prosper; families change their eating habits. What happens in the cafeteria doesn’t stop there; it spreads and brings about lasting change in household eating habits. It seems that for a healthier future, school meals are proving to be a good place to start.

This work was undertaken as part of Work Package 2 (WP2) of the SafeVeg project, which aims to increase the consumption of safe, nutritious vegetables by making them more trusted, acceptable, and accessible to consumers. WP2 is led by Wageningen University & Research and implemented with national research partners, consumer organizations, and private-sector actors across the supply chain in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. SafeVeg is led by WorldVeg, and carried out with funding from the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.