MAMAH is pioneering edible insect farms in schools to integrate insect-protein into school meals to combat childhood malnutrition. This includes:
Children harvesting pumpkins
Children waiting to receive their porridge
“But we know for sure from other studies around the world that – if the right cost-effective interventions are put in place – the cost of feeding babies (children) properly is considerably less than the price of not doing so.”
MAMAH has developed a climate-smart, sustainable model for healthy school meals, and we’re now replicating it to reach more schools & communities.
We partner with school administration, students, parents, local government authorities. Insect farms are integrated with vegetable gardens to ensure circularity, spent substrates from insect rearing are utilized to improve vegetable yields as organic fertilizers, while the off- cuts from vegetable production are fed to insects which they convert into insect protein, harvested & used to enrich children’s meals.
Child feeding
Vegetable gardens in schools
The edible insect farms are also utilized as science learning corners to the students where they explore concepts around food & nutrition, the life cycle of insects, ecology, biology, agriculture, environmental science, and even entrepreneurship.
Students develop different science concepts around food & nutrition, and generally edible insect production & utilization for food, and present them during inter-school annual science fairs.
Our nutrition team organizes nutrition education in schools using a range of techniques to deliver nutrition messages
Students making food pyramids in … secondary school
Nutrition education in schools
Children planting fruit trees
MAMAH works with to create more opportunities for healthy eating for children in schools. We collaborate with school Boards & administration to plant edible walkways, and edible fence around the schools.
Some schools plant a hedge (fence) of thorny shrubs around the school perimeter to keep students inside the school. MAMAH is transforming this by advocating for & supplying fruit- bearing trees that can keep students inside school while nourishing them!
Our message is so simple; fruit bearing trees can also make a hedge / fence, they can give a shade for students to sit under, they can work as wind-breakers to protect the school against storms, they can also beautify the school compound – while they supply food to the students!