The impacts of school feeding and school gardens in Eswatini, on children’s dietary preferences and practices – a new report

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Can involving children in school gardens, and contracting local farmers to supply vegetables to school canteens, increase children’s knowledge, enjoyment and intake of vegetables? This study in 24 primary schools across Eswatini evaluated the impact of improved school gardens and home-grown school feeding programs, with a focus on traditional African vegetables. It was funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan, through the Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative. Eight schools received gardening support and training, and eight received gardening support, training and, additionally, a supply of locally-grown vegetables for use in school meals. A further eight schools received no project interventions and were used as a control group.

None of the schools grew traditional African vegetables before the project started. One year later, teachers in intervention schools reported five different traditional African vegetables being grown, the most common being Ethiopian mustard, amaranth and okra. Children’s knowledge about gardening practices was low at the baseline, with a modest improvement in all schools over time. Knowledge about compost improved substantially from very low baseline levels – with significantly greater improvement in intervention schools.

Overall, children were more familiar with fruits and global vegetables than traditional African vegetables, based on their ability to name items in photographs and their reported familiarity with the taste of pictured items. By the end of the study, more children in intervention schools were able to correctly name traditional African vegetables, compared to those in control schools. Greater numbers of children enjoyed fruits and global vegetables, than the number enjoying traditional African vegetables – but being served locally-grown vegetables in school meals did appear to have a positive effect on their acceptability to children.

Most vegetables supplied to school canteens by local farmers were traditional African vegetables, mostly leafy greens. Supply varied between schools and over time, with an average weekly quantity of 27 kg, and an average supply frequency of 1.3 times per week. Despite challenges in assessing diets based on children’s own recall and recording, we found a significantly greater increase in dietary diversity and intake of green leafy vegetables over time among children in schools receiving vegetables from local farmers, compared to control schools.

Future research, through discussions with children, caregivers and school staff, will be important to better understand children’s food preferences and the barriers to growing and regularly serving a range of vegetables in schools. To improve future evaluations, it may be useful to involve school canteen staff in recording foods served in school meals, and for periodic follow-up with school teachers to better capture garden activities across the year. Overall, our study’s findings support the additional impact of a supply of vegetables from local farmers on increasing children’s vegetable consumption through school meals, beyond the effects of school-grown produce.

de Bruyn J, Malambe M, Matsebula V, Wanyama R, Murata M, van Zonneveld M, Schreinemachers P. 2024. Home grown school feeding and school gardens to improve children’s dietary preferences and practices: Results from Eswatini. Publication No. 24-1079. World Vegetable Center, Arusha, Tanzania. 27pp.

This report is an output of the Taiwan Africa Vegetable Initiative (TAVI), funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan. TAVI is implemented by the World Vegetable Center, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Education and Training, Eswatini; the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin; the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre, Tanzania; and the National Center for Applied Research on Rural Development (FOFIFA) and University of Antananarivo, Madagascar.