Moshi, TZ – Student garden clubs building enthusiasm with consistent harvests – 28 Apr 2017

The school garden clubs in Kahe are beginning to show increased enthusiasm after a successful month of harvests in March. Clubs at all three schools met their harvest targets for March and are now looking to continuously improve the people, process, and parts of their school breakfast farms so they can continuously increase the amount of vegetables they harvest and eat at school.

Maendeleo Primary School averaged harvests of 45 kg per week in March, which was their target harvest amount. Mwangaria Primary School averaged 56 kg per week, beating their target of 45 kg. Oria Primary School surpassed their target as well, harvest 44 kg per week with a goal of 30 kg.

When vegetables are harvested they are boiled and served to students. The students are excited to be harvesting because the vegetables are helping to make up for breakfast subsidy reductions. The harvests are physically energizing to students as they receive nutrients and mentally energizing because they are reminded of the purpose of the school breakfast gardens: providing nutritious meals to improve health so students miss less school and focus better during the day.

As energy for the program builds, Tupendane is planning Continuous Quality Improvement next steps for the people, processes, and parts of the program’s design.

People

Tupendane manager Deo is collaborating with Tupendane staff, primary school teachers, and student garden club members to improve the organization of students in the garden clubs. The clubs are work party based organizations, so it is critical to get the right students in the right roles to be successful. After three months, Tupendane is beginning to identify natural leaders among the students.

Processes

Now that the garden clubs are harvesting consistently, they need a process for preparing, cooking, and serving vegetables. Tupendane is collaborating with primary school students, teachers, and cooks to design this process. They hope this will stage them for smooth operations when they begin harvesting more frequently.

Parts

Each school garden club must expand its growing area in order to increase the quantity and frequency of its harvests. Improved irrigation systems will be necessary to help the clubs support this growth. Tupendane is currently working on designs for expanded irrigation systems at each school.