School gardens in Nepal

Urban Farm DB summary

A paper synthesising impact evaluations using cluster randomized controlled trials of school garden programmes in Nepal, described as the largest evaluation of school garden programmes to date. School garden interventions significantly improved children's knowledge of food and agriculture and their awareness of and stated preference for fruits and vegetables, but in none of the countries studied did these improvements translate into increased frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption or into eating a greater variety of fruits and vegetables. This null result on consumption matches findings from two major reviews of school garden programmes in developed countries; the paper suggests that a more holistic intervention design addressing household-level food supply and parents' food choices may be needed for such programmes to improve children's healthy eating.