School Farms
School farms are a simple idea. Most schools have some land nearby, often this is unused scrub land. Our team work with these schools and their parents’ associations to train them to prepare the land for planting crops like maize.
This preparation normally involves lots of staff and children with spades and hoes. Sometimes they are able to bring in an oxen and plough. Once the land is “opened up” the team teach the schools how to plant the seeds in a way which encourages good germination. We supply modern quality seeds which are hardy and of the best quality. During the following weeks the team return and teach modern methods on reducing pests and diseases and supply the equipment and herbicides if they are required. Once the crops are fully grown the schools harvest the maize by hand and store safely away from pests.
Once the maize has been harvested, the children are then provided with a daily hot meal of a maize-based porridge, cooked at the school. We are helping the schools build smoke free stoves so that the staff don’t sit in a nasty smoky environment whilst cooking lunch.
When children have lunch at school, they stay all day, otherwise many would not return for lessons after lunch time as they would go home or somewhere to find food. The schools are now reporting far higher attendance levels and increased attention in the afternoon, which is in turn helping the children to achieve better results. Our school farms are currently helping to provide lunch for more than 45,000 children in the district!