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Zambia’s current stunting levels stand at 32 percent, with government targeting a reduction to 15 percent through an ambitious whole-of-government approach, authorities have revealed.
The country is scaling up its Home-Grown School Feeding Programme as a key intervention to address malnutrition and improve learning outcomes, said Permanent Secretary for Administration in the Office of the Vice President, Lillian Kapusana.
According to a statement issued in Lusaka on Wednesday, a Zambian delegation is in South Korea for the 2026 Home-Grown School Meals Study Tour, aimed at strengthening school feeding programmes to improve child nutrition, support local agriculture, and enhance student retention and learning outcomes.
The tour brings together stakeholders from the agriculture and education sectors to study successful global models under the auspices of the World Bank Group.
“The programme contributes significantly to reducing malnutrition, stunting, and micronutrient deficiencies, while also improving school attendance, enrolment, and learner concentration in classrooms,” Kapusana said.
She said school feeding programmes were not merely social interventions, but strategic national investments in human capital development, food security, and poverty reduction.
Kapusana noted that the programme targeted the most vulnerable children, those whom government had a duty to protect, support, and uplift.
The Permanent Secretary stressed that food and nutrition remained central to Zambia’s national development agenda.
Read More: Zambia to host 2026 global child nutrition forum
“For Zambia, the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme is a flagship initiative aimed at improving child nutrition, enhancing educational outcomes, and strengthening long-term national development,” she said.
Kapusana explained that the programme provided nutritious meals to school children, particularly in rural and food-insecure communities, while simultaneously supporting local farmers and stimulating rural economies.
She thanked cooperating partners, including the World Food Programme, for their continued support and called on the World Bank to strengthen collaboration in scaling up the programme.
Kapusana said the delegation looks forward to gaining practical experience through field visits, expert lectures, and technical discussions.
“Our government today, under the leadership of His Excellency President Hakainde Hichilema, has made it a priority that every child must go to school and every child must be fed at school,” said Andrew Banda, Zambia’s Ambassador to South Korea.
Banda observed that the country was now enacting policies to ensure every child attended school and had access to meals while at school.
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