Assessment of Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) Theory in Kinango Sub-County, Kwale County, Kenya

Abstract

The problematique of this study is that despite the fact that there has been a lot of rhetoric from various stakeholders regarding the perceive direct benefits of the home grown school feeding programme (HGSFP)theory, no systematic research has been conducted to test the theory .This study sought to assess the HGSFP theory in Kinango Sub- county of Kwale County, Kenya. Within this broad perspective, the study examined i) establish theextent to which local farmers were stimulated by the market created by the HGSFP , ii)assess the food security status of the pupils and communities in relation to the presences of the HGSFP in the neighboring primary school in Kanango Sub County. The study used mixed methods incorporating aspects of correlation research and grounded theoretical approaches. A purposive sampling technique was applied to select opinion leaders from cross-sectionof knowledgeable informants from the local community in the study locale. The study established that HGSFP did not directly benefit the local community as was envisaged since majority of people supplyingschool food do not reside from the study locale and instead operated from urban centers.The few local farmers participating in the HGSFP were further constrained with low yields as a result of not using modern agricultural production techniques and stringent procurement procedures. Hencefood security among pupils was not guaranteed due to erratic disbursement of the funds meant for project. It is recommended that the Government through the Ministry of education should sensitize the local community regarding the objectives of the project , and relax the procumbent procedure as an affirmative approach to enable local community actively participate since they can’tfavorably compete with established entrepreneurs in open tendering processes.( 283 words)