‘Feed One, End Hunger’ initiative launched in Migori

MAKOKHA KHAOYA, KNA

The First Lady Rachel Ruto has launched the “Feed One, End Hunger” pilot program to combat hunger and improve the nutritional value of food for primary school pupils.

Speaking at the launch of the school milk feeding program at Bondo Kosiemo Primary School in Nyatike West Sub-County, Migori County, she emphasized that the initiative will help children stay focused in class.

“It is not easy to teach pupils who are hungry, which is why the milk feeding program under the ‘Feed One, End Hunger’ initiative aims to keep children in school,” she said.

She urged more well-wishers to support the initiative, expanding its reach to more schoolchildren across the country. According to the First Lady, the milk feeding program currently benefits 2.5 million children nationwide, leaving over 7.5 million still in need.

The government aims to enroll more than 10 million schoolchildren in the meal program by 2030.

She added that education is the surest foundation that the Kenyan children need to excel in life, and that no child should drop out of school because of hunger.

Mama Rachel encouraged schools to embrace kitchen gardening to improve food security and add nutrition value to students in schools. She stressed that the kitchen gardening initiative targets 2,000 schools to improve food production, adding that already 500 schools have food kitchen gardens.

The intention is to triple it by the end of 2025. Apart from starting the school milk programme at the Bondo Kosiemo Primary School, the First Lady also established two fruit gardens to boost food nutrition in the school and serve as a platform for practical lessons for the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) learners.

“I want to ask parents to allow their young ones to implement the kitchen and fruit gardening initiatives at home to boost food security,” she said.

Rachel emphasised the need for every Kenyan to take a step to help in the fight against hunger, noting that if everyone could feed one hungry person, the nation can solve the prevailing hunger issues.

Social Protection Principal Secretary Joseph Motari, who accompanied the First Lady, said that already 13,000 students from Migori have benefitted from Sh325 million bursary, under the Inua Jamii programme.

Motari also disclosed that 439 local students have also benefited from Sh5 million Presidential Secondary School Bursary (PSSB) meant to empower the Kenyan child in accessing their basic education right.

The PS also affirmed that he will be champion for the Nyatike Economic Inclusion Programme to empower the residents of Nyatike Sub-County. At the same time, Nyatike Member of Parliament Tom Odege affirmed that the national government would be building a market in Sori, before June this year, to boost the social and economic activities in the semi-arid region.

“As we are fighting hunger, we also want to give our people a good working environment to help them generate income,” he said.

Odege also confirmed that he would fight for hardship allowance for public officers working in Nyatike, an area that is categorized as a semi-arid area