An interactive discussion entitled “Youth as Drivers of Change: School Meals and Biodiversity” was held today in the COP17 Green Zone. The event was jointly organized by the ESCS Ministry, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the ‘School Nutrition and Child Welfare’ Agency. Schoolchildren and university students presented how the School Feeding Program is becoming a platform for biodiversity education, connecting the plate to the garden and the garden to the university laboratory.
Launched in Armenia in 2010 with the support of WFP, the School Feeding Program was fully nationalized in 2023 and is now funded by the state budget. Today, it provides healthy meals every school day to more than 104,000 primary school pupils across all 10 provinces of Armenia. The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport receives support from the ‘School Nutrition and Child Welfare’ Agency in implementing the program.
Pupils from Lanjaghbyur School in Gegharkunik Region, Neghots School in Lori Region and School No. 27 in Vanadzor shared how school meals, gardens and canteens are interconnected. At Neghots School, pupils have grown 17 varieties of crops in the school garden, produced mushroom-based fertilizer in the laboratory and developed a prototype of a remotely controlled irrigation robot. Both projects have received awards. At School No. 27 in Vanadzor, the school garden and canteen are interconnected parts of a single cycle.
“We compost food waste from the school canteen and use the resulting fertilizer in the garden next to our school. The fruit and vegetables grown there are then supplied to the school canteen, where our younger schoolmates have their meals,” one member of the school’s agriculture club explained. The pupil also noted that, following his advice, his father had installed a drip irrigation system in their greenhouse.
Vardan Urutyan, Founder and CEO of the Armenian Digital Agriculture Institute, noted that the synergy between school feeding and sustainable agriculture in Armenia is translating global commitments into everyday change in local communities, while empowering children to become advocates for innovative agricultural knowledge.
Satenik Mkrtchyan, Director of the ‘School Nutrition and Child Welfare’ Agency, emphasized that when children join adults in addressing challenges, solutions become more creative and effective. She expressed her gratitude to the Government of Armenia, represented by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, for its political commitment, as well as to WFP, the Armenian National Agrarian University (ANAU) and the participating schools. She also proposed holding such discussions more frequently so that children could share their work and achievements on international platforms.
In the second part of the event, ANAU students presented projects that had won a competition organized by the WFP Country Office in Armenia. The projects aim to improve the ‘Transforming School Meals through Local Produce’ model. The students proposed establishing agroforestry systems in unused schoolyards, automating greenhouse irrigation and ventilation, and introducing vertical farming at schools without outdoor grounds.
Leila Meliou, Head of the WFP Country Office in Armenia, highlighted the value of the projects, noting that vertical farming would make it possible to establish agricultural infrastructure at schools in Yerevan that lack available outdoor land.
“We would very much like to work with you to expand the program in Yerevan, as we see significant potential. We also consider it important to support the valuable ideas put forward by young people,” she said.
The joint series of events organized by the ESCS Ministry, WFP and the ‘School Nutrition and Child Welfare’ Agency within the framework of COP17 will conclude on 23 October at 10:00 a.m. in Workshop Room No. 5 in the Green Zone. The closing event will be a practical workshop entitled “From Awareness to Action: Bringing Together Food, Health, Education and Biodiversity for a Sustainable Future”, focusing on healthy nutrition and the whole-grain bread value chain.