The International Fund for Agricultural Development–Value Chain Development Programme on Tuesday launched a school vegetable gardening initiative across 10 secondary schools in Enugu to improve students’ nutrition.

Two schools were selected from each of the five council areas (Udenu, Isi-Uzo, Nkanu East, Enugu East and Aninri) currently participating in the IFAD-VCDP programme in the state.

The farming programme involved the cultivation of various vegetables, including tomatoes, spinach, peppers, pumpkins, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, among others.

IFAD-VCDP’s nutrition officer, Promise Ezeah, who spoke during the launch of the programme at the Girls Secondary School, Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, said the initiative was designed to improve students’ understanding of nutrition and healthy eating habits.

According to her, the programme will enable students to transfer the knowledge acquired from the school gardens to their families and communities.

Ms Ezeah explained that each nutrition club would comprise about 50 students who would receive training materials, including pamphlets, posters and record books.

She said the students would be taught agronomic practices, vegetable production, food hygiene, and nutrition, while records would be kept of harvests and sales to ensure the project’s sustainability.

“Our aim is for the programme to continue beyond this year. The students can preserve seeds, generate income from sales and use the proceeds for future cultivation,” Ms Ezeah added.

Ms Ezeah noted that the vegetables would be cultivated using organic manure, particularly poultry droppings, instead of chemical fertilisers. She explained that IFAD-VCDP expanded its intervention beyond rice and cassava production in 2022 by integrating nutrition education into its agricultural activities.

According to her, the programme teaches participants the importance of combining foods from different food groups to achieve a balanced diet and strengthen the immune system.

She said that IFAD-VCDP officials, agricultural officers, school principals, heads of agricultural departments and designated nutrition champions would monitor implementation of the project.

Ngozika Nze, the head of the Agriculture Department at the school, described the initiative as timely, noting that many families currently rely heavily on carbohydrate-based diets.

She said that the selected students would receive training and subsequently cascade the knowledge gained to other students and community members.

Ms Nze expressed confidence that the project would be sustained through seed preservation and annual cultivation of vegetables.

A teacher in the school, Ruth Irem, commended IFAD-VCDP for introducing the nutrition club initiative. She said the project would encourage healthy eating habits among students and inspire greater interest in agriculture.

(NAN)