By Cosmas Omegoh
Danish Embassy of Nigeria and a non-governmental body, African Children’s Aid Education and Development Foundation (ACAEDF), are collaborating to promote agriculture in Nigerian schools, with the program School Farm for School Meal (SF4SM).
The initiative is said to be designed to create sustainable food self-sufficiency model across Nigerian schools.
The pilot edition of the project implementation is scheduled to hold on the April 25, 2022, in four government schools in Akwa Ibom, aimed at providing 70% of the schools’ feeding needs in the first six months of the academic session.
Our correspondent gathered that SF4SM is fully funded by the Embassy of Denmark in Nigeria under its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) facility being implemented and managed by ACAEDF in Nigeria. And through the support of the Government of Akwa Ibom State, approvals needed to kick-start the program in the state have been given.
The Embassy of Denmark in Nigeria and ACAEDF through Project SF4SM had designed a sustainable project structure that does not just feed the children, but equips them with basic farming skills for growing their own food.
Both partners were said to have arrived at this long-term intervention model based on information gathered from analysing locally and internationally generated data on similar projects.
Embassy of Denmark in Nigeria’s Sector Counsellor on Food, Agriculture and Fisheries; Poul Jacob
“The project aims to address the pressing challenge of lack of access to food and proper nutrition amongst young children. We focused on schools as education through the existing schooling structure allows for learning opportunities for children and to also be able to have access to the children for our school feeding program.
“The Embassy of Denmark in Nigeria sponsored this project under our SDG Facility and we would continue to participate and monitor the execution to ensure that the Goal and objectives of the program is attained.”
Founder and Executive Director of (ACAEDF), Mr. David Umem, said “Project SF4SM is an invaluable program not just for students in Nigeria but also for parents and all stakeholders in a child’s life.”
He expressed happiness that although, the intervention started with government schools in Akwa Ibom, “it is also pertinent to state that we hope to expand the project to other states in Nigeria.”