National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme and Socio-Economic Development in Gwer East Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria

This study examined the impact of National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme on socio-economic development in Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. The methodology adopted for the study was survey research design with questionnaire being adopted as the instrument for data collection. A sample of 360, comprising of teachers, local farmers and vendors/cooks was used for the study. Literature was also explored for secondary data generation. The data collected were analyzed using Mean, Standard deviation and Chi-square. The Change-Model theory was adopted as a guide for theoretical framework of the study. The findings of the study revealed that, the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme has contributed in terms of increased enrollment of out-of-school children back to school in the area. Also, further findings revealed that, it has improved on the health status, nutrition and academic performance, as well as the reduction in absenteeism among school children. Equally, it was found that, local farmers were not given the access market to sell their produce as contained in the policy document due to hijack of the process in supply of food by politicians in the state. Finally, it revealed that, the programme even though boosted the cooking skills of vendors, the recruitment process was equally inflicted with several manners of gratification to officials of the programme. In line with these findings, the study recommended that, there is need to strengthen the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme towards creation of access market to local farmers to boost the local economy in Benue State, strengthen the recruitment process to be devoid of gratifications to officials and need for policy continuity to bring more benefits to increase socio-economic development in Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.