Challenges

In Zambia, food production decreases during the lean season, the period between harvests that lasts from October to March, leading to food price increases and food insecurity at the household level. In 2019, most regions were hit by prolonged dry spells, resulting in a 60 percent reduction in maize production. The lean season also has a negative impact on meals provided to learners by imposing a higher cost on school feeding programmes and limiting the food diversity of the school meals.

To encourage access to education and improve nutritional status of communities, the Ministry of General Education of the Republic of Zambia (MoGE) funds and implements a national home-grown school meals programme with technical support from the World Food Programme (WFP). The home-grown school meals programme is the country’s largest food safety net and benefits around 1.9 million children in 5,100 primary schools. The number of districts covered increased from 39 in 2019 to 70 in 2022.

Toward a Solution

To improve the nutritional aspect of the national homegrown school meals programme, WFP and MoGE are piloting the techniques of hydroponics and sack farming at Zambian schools. Applying these techniques can diversify the diet provided by the school meals programme. Students learn the techniques in the greenhouse gardens of their school and then share them with their local communities. The spill-over effects of communities adopting hydroponics and sack farming introduces alternative crops to the local markets which has the potential to create additional income for smallholder farmers and boost community-level responsiveness to climate change.

The specific objectives of integrating hydroponic and sack farming into school feeding programmes are to: 1) improve the production of nutritious foods in schools through innovative and sustainable farming methods and therefore contribute to improving child nutrition; 2) increase access to fresh food for learners, contributing to food and nutrition education; 3) transfer knowledge and skills on hydroponic technologies; and 4) diversify sources of income for schools by selling the products grown in the greenhouse gardens.

Hydroponics is a soilless cultivation technique that enables plant growth in areas which are non-fertile, arid or have limited space or access to land. The main advantages are needing 90 percent less water compared to traditional soil gardening and saving up to 70 percent of the space. In hydroponic gardens, vegetables (such as tomato, lettuce and Chinese cabbage) can be grown all along the year, ensuring a stable supply of nutritious foods for school meals. With sack farming, crops are grown in nutrient-rich soil mixed with manure in a sack, thus crops can be produced within limited spaces and where soil fertility is poor.

The below three types of techniques used in the greenhouse gardens have been implemented by the programme.

• Deep-water culture systems with multiple tanks (constructed from brick and cement) inside a greenhouse. Floating beds are covered in plastic sheets and plants are anchored in net pots within Styrofoam plates.
• Grain bags (sacks) inside a greenhouse that are filled with growing medium and black soil and charcoal dust. Vegetables are normally grown in sacks.
• A combined system, in which one section of a greenhouse has grain bags and the other the deep-water culture system.

Up to the first quarter of 2022, 71 schools in 16 districts had created the combined system of greenhouse gardens, benefiting more than 45,000 learners. All gardens are fully operational and planted with various vegetables. The garden produce is directly supporting the school feeding programmes with balanced and diversified meals. The garden products have also generated additional income to financially support the running of the gardens (inputs and maintenance) and school meal programmes. Part of the production is sold to local communities, especially during school holidays and the lean season. In general, sales in the lean season have provided more income to the schools as food prices are higher at that time.

As an example, in a primary school with 1,288 learners in Gwembe, a town in the Southern Province of Zambia, a greenhouse garden was constructed with the support of the local community. A committee was founded with teachers, community members and pupils to oversee, manage and sustain the operations of the garden. Since the first harvest of vegetables on 16 February 2021, the school has produced over 787.4 kilograms of vegetables, of which 474 kilograms were channelled to school meals and 313.4 kilograms were sold to local communities. The school generated US$ 231, which was used to buy inputs to maintain and sustain the garden.

The engagement of surrounding communities has been key to the successful and sustainable implementation of the hydroponic school gardens, paving the way for local ownership of the initiative. In Zambia, communities have contributed to the construction and management of the gardens. As the gardens are run by the schoolchildren primarily on school days, the support of local communities during school holidays is essential. As a spill-over benefit, the hydroponic and sack farming techniques have been transferred to local communities through their support to the gardens, strengthening their capacities in alternative farming and therefore improving community livelihoods.

This practice can easily be replicated as it does not require fertile soil or access to large plots of land to grow crops. Nevertheless, it is necessary to ensure that schools and producers have the knowledge required to create the systems correctly. Otherwise, crops could fail. It is worth noting that the cost of setting up is high. However, nearly half of the set-up costs can be recovered within the first year if the system is prepared successfully.

This replicable practice has been shared with other countries in Africa. Namibia is implementing this system under their national school feeding programme. Burundi has expert support to assess opportunities in hydroponics. Libya has begun investigating the potential for the replication of such practices in their context. In May 2022, a Libyan government delegation conducted an official study visit to Zambia to learn more about the project. The South-South study visit included exchanges between Libyan government officials and their Zambian counterparts, visits to greenhouse gardens at primary schools and discussions with local authorities.