School garden program in Nepal raised awareness and knowledge of and preferences for fruit and vegetables but did not result in increased consumption of fruit and vegetablesThis randomized controlled study investigated knowledge, awareness, and behavioral outcomes of a school garden program in Nepal. The aim was to contribute to the current literature on school gardens by providing robust evidence for the impact of school gardens in a low-income country.
Nepal’s school garden program, implemented in 20 randomly chosen schools in rural and peri-urban areas, consisted of three intervention components concurrently implemented in participating schools: a school garden, a teaching curriculum, and informational materials for children and parents. These schools were compared to 10 randomly chosen control schools. Children in grades 6 and 7 (age 10-15), under the guidance of their teachers, participated in the development of their school gardens which were designed specifically to cultivate nutrient-dense vegetables. The curricular component of the intervention focused on gardening, nutrition, and hygiene and was implemented by the teachers over a 23-week period, often in the school garden. Related informational materials, consisting of posters and handouts, were designed to reinforce the school-based lessons and to strengthen the impact of the program. Parents visited the school twice a year to learn more about the school garden project; and children were encouraged to establish a garden at their home with their parents’ support. Families were supplied with seeds to use in establishing a garden at home.
Data collected from both treatment and control schools involved a randomly chosen sample of 1275 and 785 schoolchildren for the 2014 and 2015 school years, respectively. After one year of intervention, there were significant increases in children’s awareness about fruit and vegetables, their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, their knowledge about food, nutrition and health and their stated preferences for eating fruit and vegetables. There were no significant improvements, however, in children’s fruit and vegetable consumption or nutritional status.
This research indicates that school vegetable gardens linked to complementary lessons and promotion are effective as an educational tool to raise children’s interest in fruit and vegetables, but that further intervention is needed to improve children’s dietary behavior and nutritional status. The researchers suggest that more active parent involvement and better coordination between nutrition, health and agricultural interventions might improve the effectiveness of programs focusing on the dietary and nutritional needs of children in low-income countries.
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