The webcast on the Emerging Global Food Crisis got me thinking about the sustainability of feeding programs alongside a food crisis. At the moment, Nestlé Philippines has a feeding program in place and its sustainability is dependent on the parent volunteers through the improvement of their livelihoods, which will eventually enable them to run the feeding program on their own.
In essence, however, the sustainability of a feeding program is also largely dependent on the availability of food. The presence of a
school garden can be one solution to this availability problem. Just to illustrate, in Rwanda, the planted school gardens benefited the school and the community in several ways. They increased the students’ knowledge on food security and nutrition. The students acquired gardening skills, and most importantly the school garden provided constant food supply for the ongoing feeding programs in place. Some schools in the area were even provided cow sheds and hen houses, as well as Friesian cows to care for. These cows were used for the children's milk consumption while cow dung was used for soil fertility. The feeding program enabled the schools to save money in the long run as their food supply came from their own garden. Any surplus in produce was sold to the community to garner profit, thus benefiting the school even more in the process.
To know more about the Rwandan School Gardens click on this link:
School Garden in Rwanda
Often times, land space and availability are issues to consider when it comes to producing school gardens. Click on the link to see how an NGO called
Send a Cow in Uganda tackled that problem by creating “bag gardens.”
Send a Cow, Uganda
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