{"id":2517,"date":"2026-07-25T08:27:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/?p=2517"},"modified":"2026-07-26T12:14:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T12:14:39","slug":"school-gardens-take-root-as-manicaland-initiative-targets-child-nutrition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/school-gardens-take-root-as-manicaland-initiative-targets-child-nutrition\/","title":{"rendered":"School Gardens Take Root as Manicaland Initiative Targets Child Nutrition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Heather Buzuzi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MAYA Director Jussa Kudherezera<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MUTARE<\/strong> \u2013 For many learners, a school garden could soon become more than just a patch of vegetables. It may provide the fresh food that ends up on their lunch plates while teaching them how to grow it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Manica Youth Assembly (MAYA) has launched a program to establish nutrition gardens in primary and secondary schools across Manicaland recently, hoping to strengthen school feeding programs, improve food security and equip young people with practical agricultural skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative, which is being implemented under MAYA’s Urban Futures Project, encourages schools to produce their own vegetables using climate-smart farming methods, reducing dependence on external food supplies as rising food prices and changing weather patterns continue to affect school feeding programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MAYA Director Jussa Kudherezera said the organisation wants schools to become centres of learning that extend beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Every child in both primary and secondary school deserves to eat nutritious food at least twice a week. We are working with schools to establish nutrition gardens that will not only feed learners but also serve as living laboratories where students and educators gain practical skills in climate-smart urban agriculture, rainwater harvesting and organic soil management,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kudherezera said the gardens would provide fresh, nutrient-rich vegetables for school feeding programmes while giving pupils hands-on experience in sustainable farming. He added that schools would also be encouraged to sell surplus produce, creating income that could be reinvested into maintaining the gardens and supporting other school development projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education officials say the initiative also has the potential to strengthen practical learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education official Isaac Kusena urged schools to embrace nutrition gardens, saying they offer learners valuable agricultural knowledge that can be applied both at school and at home. He encouraged teachers to actively train pupils in establishing and maintaining the gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

District Agriculture Extension Officer Bertha K. Mashayamombe said school nutrition gardens are an important tool in addressing food and nutrition insecurity while helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said schools should aim to grow a diverse range of crops to ensure learners receive balanced meals that support healthy growth and academic performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Nutrition gardens offer food, nutrition and security, reducing the chances of nutritional deficiencies among learners. Schools should ensure their gardens produce a variety of crops that provide carbohydrates, vitamins and proteins so that children receive balanced meals that support healthy growth and learning,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The programme comes at a time when many schools are facing increasing pressure to sustain feeding schemes as food prices continue to rise and climate-related challenges affect agricultural production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By combining food production with education, MAYA believes schools can become more self-reliant while helping learners develop skills in sustainable agriculture that could benefit their families and communities beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation says it plans to work with more schools and local communities across Manicaland as it expands the initiative, with the goal of improving nutrition, strengthening resilience to climate change and promoting long-term food security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Heather Buzuzi MUTARE \u2013 For many learners, a school garden could soon become more than just a patch of vegetables. It may provide the fresh food that ends up on their lunch plates while teaching them how to grow it. The Manica Youth Assembly (MAYA) has launched a program to establish nutrition gardens in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2517"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2534,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517\/revisions\/2534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}