Online Reporter
Precious Manomano
THE Government is expanding the national school feeding programme to more schools and drought-prone districts ahead of the anticipated 2026/2027 El Niño-induced drought.
The authorities are also strengthening school-based food production programmes to ensure learners do not go hungry.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said it was taking early action to protect children from possible food shortages, with nutrition gardens, small livestock projects, solar-powered irrigation schemes and food prepositioning being rolled out ahead of the rainy season.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Mr Taungana Ndoro, said the Government would not wait for food shortages to emerge before intervening.
He said the school feeding programme was a critical social protection initiative that would continue throughout the drought period.
The programme has already been extended to secondary schools, with coverage being increased in drought-prone districts including Binga, Chivi, Kariba, Nkayi, Lupane, Umguza and Bubi, where thousands of learners are receiving daily hot meals.
The Government is also assessing the possibility of providing two meals a day to the most vulnerable learners in communities likely to be hardest hit by the drought.
In addition, schools are being turned into food production centres through nutrition gardens, small livestock projects and solar-powered irrigation schemes.
The initiatives are intended to improve schools’ self-sufficiency while reducing their reliance on external food supplies during periods of shortages.
Mr Ndoro said the school feeding programme had been incorporated into the national early warning system.
This allows the authorities to identify food-stressed districts and vulnerable learners early and preposition grain and other food supplies before shortages develop.
The Government is also working with development partners, including UNICEF and the World Food Programme, to mobilise food, funding and technical assistance, while communities, parents and volunteer groups are providing labour, maintaining nutrition gardens and helping prepare meals.
Mr Ndoro said the school feeding programme remains a key pillar of the National Development Strategy 2 and assured parents that the Government would do everything possible to ensure hunger did not disrupt children’s education. Climate forecasts indicate a high probability of El Niño conditions developing during the 2026/2027 rainfall season, prompting the Government to roll out early interventions across agriculture, water, health and education to minimise the potential impact of the anticipated dry spell.
