By Bernard Gitau | @benagitau
The First Lady, Mama Rachel Ruto has established her first three ’Mama Kitchen Garden’ at State House Primary School, Nairobi Primary School, and St. Georges Primary School.
Mama Rachel Ruto is working with the 4K Clubs of Kenya, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, to establish kitchen gardens in public primary schools across the country.
“This partnership with the 4K Clubs of Kenya will enhance the schools’ nutritional capacity but also serve as a demonstration where children will learn the importance of growing their food,” she said.
This is one of the flagship programs by the First Lady, aimed at supporting sustainable school feeding through the production of food on school grounds.
According to the ministry of Health, national levels of acute malnutrition is at 6% in Kenya while in Arid and Semi Arid areas have consistently remained above the emergency threshold of 15%.
MOH in 2023 estimated 945,610 children aged 6 to 59 months required management of acute malnutrition which was a reduction compared to 970,214 reported in February 2023.
There were 216,794 cases of severe acute malnutrition with 728,816 moderate severe malnutrition cases.
The report also recorded 144,940 pregnant and lactating women with acute malnutrition and needed treatment.
With such worrying figures, Mama Rachel said primary schools are key players in the national food security agenda, as they provide an excellent platform to instill the values of sustainable agriculture and nutrition in young minds.
“Through their active participation in initiatives like kitchen gardening, these young champions are contributing to food and nutritional security while gaining practical skills that will benefit them for a lifetime,” she said.
Other efforts being undertaken by the government is planting fruit trees in schools through the greening campaign targeting to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.
Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has stated that 30 percent of the 15 billion trees should be fruit trees.
