National Home Grown School Feeding Program (NHGSFP)

The National Home Grown School Feeding Programme aims to deliver a cost-effective home grown school feeding programme with a specific focus on increasing school enrollment, reducing the incidence of malnutrition especially among the poor; empowering cooks while supporting local agriculture through small holder farmers, thereby stimulating economic growth through the socio economic value chain. The primary focus of the Programme is to provide free school meals with food procured from local smallholder farmers by strengthening communities across the country.

The Home Grown School Feeding Program was created to provide a nutritious and balanced meal to 5.5 million school children grades 1 to 3.

More about NHGSFP

The Program aims to improve the enrollment of primary school children and reduce the drop-out rate, currently estimated at over 30%. Most of this shortage is due to poverty and this program is built to address the most important basic need of schoolchildren and provide the nutrition needed to engage successfully with their education. By linking the program to local food supply chains, the community is engaged to create a social support beyond simply providing meals to certain children. over 44,000 cooks are engaged in the program, feeding over 4 million students in 26 Nigerian States.

The intention is a cycle of productivity, sustaining and connecting local farmers to nationwide and global markets while providing the next generation with the sustenance necessary for education and growth. Local economies are directly stimulated in various sectors, from education to the service industry to the agricultural sector, while educational attainment and acquisition of skills are encouraged and supported among the youth.