School gardening in Bhutan: Evaluating outcomes and impact

Pepijn Schreinemachers,Passang Lhamo Sherpa,Bal Bdr Rai,Ray-Yu Yang,Thinley Dukpa,Namgay Thinley,Desang Dorji,Hsiao-Pu Chen

doi:10.1007/s12571-017-0673-3

Pepijn Schreinemachers, Passang Lhamo Sherpa + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-017-0673-3

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Abstract

School gardening interventions have been touted as an effective approach to improve children’s eating habits in developed countries, but there is little evidence for their impact in developing countries. We studied the combined effect of school gardens linked to complementary lessons and promotional activities on the eating behavior and nutritional status of 9- to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Bhutan. We also studied the effect on a range of secondary indicators derived from the impact pathway. We used data from 468 schoolchildren in 9 control and 9 treatment schools following a randomized controlled trial design. We found that the school gardening intervention significantly increased children’s awareness about vegetables, their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, and their preferences for healthier foods. We found an 11.7-percentage point increase in the probability that children included vegetables in their meals (p < 0.05), but not in the number of different fruits or vegetables consumed. These results support the idea that comprehensive school garden interventions, combining gardening with education and promotion, can positively influence food preferences and food behavior in developing countries.

Highlights

Eating habits and food attitudes established early in life tend to persist through to adulthood (Birch 1999; Cooke 2007; Kelder et al 1994)
This study evaluates a pilot school garden program developed within the context of the BVegetables Go to School^ project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) through the World Vegetable Center
We studied whether the effect of the school garden intervention on the number of different vegetables consumed was significantly different from schools with or without a school feeding program

Summary

Introduction

Eating habits and food attitudes established early in life tend to persist through to adulthood (Birch 1999; Cooke 2007; Kelder et al 1994). This understanding has created renewed interest in school-based interventions to influence the dietary choices of young children Blair 2009; Skelly and Bradley 2007; Ozer 2007; Ratcliffe et al 2011; Christian et al 2014) The results from these studies cannot be generalized to developing countries because the type and extent of malnutrition is very different, as is the socio-economic context in which schools operate

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