School farming and school feeding in Nakuru town, Kenya: Practice and potential

Although urban agriculture has become an increasingly important topic among researchers and policy-makers, urban school farming has been largely neglected so far. This is the more surprising as school farming, in combination with a school feeding programme, has great potential to alleviate hunger, increase the attendance rate of children in school and help to develop sound food habits among them. Moreover, by practicing organic farming, school farming also has the potential of creating an environmental awareness among both pupils and teachers. The study aims to combine the three elements of school farming, school feeding and environmental awareness in an urban setting. Its main objectives are (1) to describe the practice of school farming, (2) to assess the awareness concerning environmentally-friendly farming, (3) to establish the contribution of school farming to school feeding programmes, (4) to determine to what extent the pupils benefit from school farming and school feeding programmes in terms of food security and school attendance, and (5) to assess the potential for school farming in combination with school feeding.