By Bob Aston
The meeting was also attended by Laikipia
Produce and Marketing Co-operative Society, Ng’arua cereals and produce SHG,
Sipili cereal Bank and Ndurumo Cereal bank. The three cereal banks and co-operative
have a combined membership of 520 members.
The Ministry of Education began the
Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) in 2008. The programme is
implemented in semi-arid areas of the country that are vulnerable to food
insecurity. This programme operates as a cash transfer programme where schools
receive resources from the government for the local purchase of food products.
The Netherlands Development
Organisation (SNV) held a meeting in Sipili town, Laikipia County on May 7,
2014 in preparation of match making for cereal banks and Co-operative operating
in Laikipia West. The meeting which was also attended by Arid Lands Information
Network (ALIN) was to help the group identify schools which they can feed
through Home
Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP).
Justus addressing participants |
During the meeting Justus Nzuki, a
consultant with Kilimo Biashara informed the participants the benefits of small
scale farmers in accessing HGSFP market. The benefits include; empowering
farmers, increased production, promotion of the group as a whole, increased
food security, food hygiene, better livelihood and better bargaining power.
Nzuki said that the meeting was
simply in preparation of match making which is set to take place on Wednesday.
He said that priority is normally
given to farmers and parents. He urged the co-operative and cereal banks to put
structures in place to ensure that there is trust between the groups.
Home Grown School Feeding Programme
is currently being done in 22 counties in Kenya. SNV has taken five (5)
counties as pilot project. The counties are Laikipia, Kitui, Narok, Baringo and
Elgeyo Marakwet.
Sam Nzioka from ALIN-Ng'arua Maarifa Centre leading the discussion |
School Feeding programmes have long
proved effective in improving school enrolment, improving and stabilizing
school attendance as well as increasing progression and completion rates in
primary schools.
SNV is trying to ensure that farmers
benefit through the program by supplying farm produce to schools. They are now
aiming to ensure that 10,000 new farmers are added to the program.
The co-operative and the cereal banks
also plan to sell their maize in bulk and to store it to await the best price
and sell through Sokopepe. They are now planning to set an aggregation centre.
This they say will help them to satisfy the sokopepe market which has
registered a huge demand of maize.
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