School Gardens Turn Pupils into Modern Farmers
Primary and Secondary schools in Kenya are increasingly turning to growing their own food in a bid to cut down on expenses while supplementing their income. The gardens, which are managed by the students are also restoring the prestige of agriculture and dispelling age-old myths that farming is an old man’s job. By having the students involved in the entire crop production process and also selling the produce in the markets, the programmes seek to show children that there is money in agriculture.
Primary and Secondary schools in Kenya are increasingly turning to growing their own food in a bid to cut down on expenses while supplementing their income. The gardens, which are managed by the students are also restoring the prestige of agriculture and dispelling age-old myths that farming is an old man’s job. By having the students involved in the entire crop production process and also selling the produce in the markets, the programmes seek to show children that there is money in agriculture.
In one such project where Light Shine academy in Kaharati area of Murang’a county is partnering with local nutritionists, teachers say having their own gardens is increasingly changing the diet that children are fed in schools. Due to constrained budget, majority of the public schools provide a midday meal of maize and beans which keeps hunger at bay but which lacks nutrition. The planting of for example kales, spinach, tomatoes, mangoes and pawpaws ensure that kids get a balanced diet. “Some of our pupils come from very poor backgrounds. The kind of food they carry from home or which they eat are so low in nutrition. When Orchid seed company fronted us the idea of a partnership where they would assist us with the seeds and train our pupils, we jumped into it. We are now able to give lunch to the pupils from the food they have produced themselves and we are glad the malnutrition levels have gone down,” said Mrs. Mary Irungu a teacher at the school.
Mrs. Mbote further added that the programme has also assisted children to practice modern farming including water harvesting, drip irrigation among others which allow them to witness agriculture in a different light, a departure from what they are used to seeing their parents farm. “By the children farming crops like spinach, coriander and tomatoes which we get the seeds from Orchid seeds, we are able to give them a new feel of what agriculture is about. We also train them how to harvest water which we put in specialized tanks and the water is used in irrigation which is a new technology that children are also enjoying,” added Mrs. Mbote.
So effective is the programme that children carry some of the seeds to their homes to train their family members on what they learn from school. “It is having an impressive ripple effect. We hope to keep scaling it,” said Mrs. Mbote.
Kilometers away at St Charles Lwanga primary school in Nyeri County, the school has set aside three acres which it has dedicated to student driven farming. Here the pupils grow different kinds of crops ranging from fresh produce to beans and maize. While the food is used to supplement the school, the pupils are allowed to sell the surplus in the local market. Every Wednesday afternoon, a select number of pupils take the surplus produce to this market. While part of the proceeds goes to the school, the pupils are also allowed to keep part of it. “The idea is to bring up a new set of pupils who appreciate that agriculture is cool and that they can make money from it. We give them part of the money as a way of incentivizing them into this form of farming. A student earns based on how much work they put in the spaces we have allocated to them,” said Mr. Daniel Muroto the headteacher of the school.
The farm land is subdivided into small plots and a group of pupils, usually five, allocated to each plot. With guidance from their teachers they pick what kind of crop they want to grow and are responsible for the entire crop production process. “We divide duties of tending to crops among ourselves. There are those who will come early in the morning before lessons begin and do some weeding and watering while others will do the same in the evening before going home,” said Brian Kanyi a Class Seven pupil whose groups has in the last two harvests recorded the highest number of yields and income. In the last harvest for example the five boys were able to earn Sh1200 each from their small school farms. “I will continue farming even when I leave this school. It seems interesting,” added Brian.
The gardens while making the schools sustainable in feeding students are also complementing government’s recent efforts to get as many students to embrace agriculture. This is in a move meant to spur farming among the young generation. Last year the government re introduced the 4k clubs in schools to create awareness and inculcate a positive mindset towards agriculture, among school-going children and transition with the needed skills to be agri-prenuers.
“The revival of 4-K Clubs is part of an elaborate Government strategy to reposition agriculture as a key economic driver,” said president Uhuru Kenyatta during the launch of the clubs.
