Accra: Over 33,500 schoolchildren from two districts in the Northern and Ashanti regions are set to benefit from a pilot Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Programme launched by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Lions Club International Foundation in Accra on Friday.
According to Ghana News Agency, the initiative will be implemented in the Karaga District of the Northern Region and Sekyere Central District of the Ashanti Region. It aims to provide safe, nutritious, and locally produced meals for children in approximately 100 selected schools for one year while creating structured market opportunities for smallholder farmers and local food suppliers.
The programme seeks to complement the government's School Feeding initiatives in the two districts. It aims to improve child nutrition, enhance learning outcomes, and strengthen local food systems. Additionally, it supports the country's development agenda and the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal Two (SDG 2), which targets ending hunger, achieving food security, and improving nutrition.
The Home-Grown School Feeding programme is funded jointly by Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF) and World Food Program USA as part of a new three-year US$12 million global commitment to supporting HGSF programmes, with each organization contributing US$2 million annually.
At the launch, Madam Aurore Rusiga, the Country Director of WFP Ghana, stated that the programme was designed to connect school feeding with local agricultural production to ensure children received nutritious meals while farmers benefited from reliable markets. The project addresses two critical priorities by strengthening the home-grown school feeding approach and promoting domestic food production.
Madam Rusiga emphasized that every meal served under the programme supports farmers, stimulates local economies, and strengthens communities. She described the programme as an important policy tool for promoting human capital development, socio-economic progress, and sustainable food systems.
The WFP Country Director mentioned that the project would be implemented in collaboration with the ministries of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Education, and Food and Agriculture, as well as the Ghana School Feeding Programme Secretariat, to ensure strong national ownership and coordination. She expressed appreciation to LCIF for supporting the initiative and building a system that benefits children while creating economic opportunities for communities.
Mr Prince Obeng Dwamena, the District Governor of Lions Club District 418, said the programme reflects the organization's commitment to addressing hunger and improving food security among vulnerable populations. He noted that hunger remains a significant barrier to education, health, and human development, and a hungry child cannot effectively concentrate in class or realize their full potential.
Mr Dwamena highlighted that the programme adopts a holistic development model, creating direct linkages between schools and local farmers, providing nutritious meals to children while generating stable markets for agricultural produce. This intervention aims to strengthen local economies, create jobs, and build resilient food systems in beneficiary communities.
Hajia Fati Forgor, the National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), welcomed the initiative, describing it as a significant complement to government efforts to improve school feeding across the country. The GSFP, which began in 2005 with only 10 schools and 1,900 pupils, has since expanded significantly, currently benefiting about 4.27 million children in 12,045 kindergarten and primary schools nationwide.
Hajia Forgor noted that while the Government currently finances the programme, development partners such as WFP have provided critical support to improve service delivery, including strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems through digital data collection. The home-grown school feeding programme offers an opportunity to test stronger linkages between school feeding caterers and local farmers, with lessons from the pilot helping to inform future scale-up efforts and improve the nutritional quality of meals served under the national programme.
Dr Clement Apaak, the Deputy Minister of Education, described the initiative as an important partnership that underscores the close relationship between education, nutrition, and national development. He stressed that interventions improving school nutrition are critical investments in education and human capital development.
Dr Apaak noted that the project demonstrates the strong connection between education, agriculture, nutrition, and community development by providing nutritious meals sourced from local farmers while creating economic opportunities for farming communities and strengthening local food systems. He commended the WFP and LCIF for supporting Ghana's efforts to ensure every child has access to quality education in an environment promoting health, dignity, and equal opportunity.
Mr Bright Demordzi, the National Coordinator of the Feed Ghana Programme at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said the HGSF concept represents a strategic development approach that provides nutritious meals to schoolchildren while creating reliable markets for local farmers. It also stimulates rural economies, strengthens agricultural value chains, and contributes to poverty reduction through stronger linkages between schools and food producers.
Mr Demordzi noted that it aligns with the Government's agricultural transformation agenda and the Feed Ghana Programme, which seeks to increase food production, improve market access, promote value addition, and enhance national food security. He reaffirmed the Ministry's commitment to working with partners to empower farmers to meet the growing demand for safe, nutritious, and locally produced food.