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March 24, 2017
School gardens sprout better nutrition in Sri Lanka



Building a healthy and nutritious food system is a key priority for Sri Lanka’s government. Through the SDG Fund, more than 400 schools are now on their way to creating toxin-free and organic school gardens. To ensure the successful growth of the gardens, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Education have been organizing a series of training workshops.

According to FAO in Sri Lanka, children can learn how to grow a variety of foods – vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants —while fostering entrepreneurial skills in the area of market gardening. In the process, they can be encouraged to consume more vegetables and fruits. Through demonstrations, children and their families are improving their diets with homegrown and micronutrient-rich foods.

Children, their teachers and families will learn many aspects of how to produce food, from how to select the garden’s location, to what types of beds to create, to selecting tools and equipment. They will also learn about fertilisation, training and pruning, and pest control using plant extracts and modern technologies.

The comprehensive two-day programme focuses on child nutrition, health and education. A series of guidelines and manuals have been developed for teachers, parents, and communities on “Setting Up and Running a School Garden.” In a country with linguistic diversity and still healing after civil war, translating the materials into Sinhala and Tamil and adapting them to local contexts was considered essential for the success of the initiative. The Tamil version was widely distributed in the North and East Provinces, which have been heavily affected by food insecurity and undernutrition.

The SDG Fund joint project, ‘Scaling up Nutrition through a multi-Sector Approach,’ is being implemented by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP). Its objective is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government investment in food security and nutrition by highlighting the gaps, opportunities and impact of current initiatives. This project also aims to achieve attitudinal and behavioral changes through enhanced nutrition education and nutrition promotion of safe and nutritious foods, dietary diversity, nutrient deficiencies and its root causes.

With these trainings, the school gardens will become a popular and productive part of children’s learning and will contribute to their understanding of nutrition as a source of wellbeing, both now and in the future.