Beyond the Plate: Interlinking Nutrition Equity and Economic Empowerment through Home-Grown School Feeding

Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programs in Africa aim to simultaneously improve child nutrition and stimulate local economies by linking school meal procurement to smallholder farmers. This desk review synthesizes evidence from peer-reviewed studies, institutional reports, and national case studies to evaluate the interplay between these dual objectives. Key findings reveal that decentralized procurement models enhance smallholder inclusion and gender equity, while centralized systems often marginalize vulnerable farmers. Gender-responsive policies, such as land tenure reforms and women’s cooperatives, amplify economic and nutritional outcomes, increasing household dietary diversity by up to 25%. Biofortification and fortification strategies—such as vitamin A-enriched sweet potatoes and iron-fortified maize—reduce micronutrient deficiencies but require subsidies to balance costs with farmer profitability. Despite successes, challenges persist: logistical bottlenecks in supply chains, elite capture of procurement funds, and trade-offs between cost-effectiveness and nutritional quality undermine program scalability. The review highlights the critical role of policy integration, advocating for alignment with continental frameworks like the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and national nutrition plans. Recommendations prioritize gender-responsive land reforms, climate-resilient crop diversification, and hybrid technologies (e.g., blockchain with community intermediaries) to enhance transparency. Research gaps call for longitudinal studies on HGSF’s long-term impacts on intergenerational poverty and cultural-ecological sustainability. By harmonizing economic and nutritional goals through adaptive governance, HGSF can evolve from a school-based intervention into a transformative driver of equitable development in Africa.