Home-grown school feeding programmes and the challenge of embeddedness: the case of local food networks and the Ghana School Feeding Programme

Abstract

Home-grown school feeding (HGSF) programmes aim to “kill two birds withone stone” by using the power of public food procurement to stimulate localagricultural development. This chapter uses the Ghana school feeding programmeas a case study to discuss the mixing of economic and non-economic activitiesunder HGSF programmes. The chapter argues that HGSF programmes areembedded in sociocultural relationships, and that their outcomes are thereforethe result of negotiation processes among various actors. The implementation ofHGSF programmes should be flexible enough to take advantage of the lessonsthat are drawn from these embedded negotiation processes