From GH¢1.50 to GH¢2.00: Why Ghana Must Go Beyond Incremental Increases and Reimagine School Feeding Through Central Kitchens and Public-Private Partnerships

The Government of Ghana deserves commendation for increasing the Ghana School Feeding Programme feeding grant from GH¢1.50 to GH¢2.00 per child per day. At a time when food inflation has eroded purchasing power and placed enormous pressure on caterers, this increase, alongside the removal of the tax component, signals the government’s continued commitment to protecting one of Ghana’s most important social protection programmes.

It is a positive decision.
Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, GH¢2.00 remains only a scratch on the surface of what is required to deliver nutritious, safe, and quality meals to over four million Ghanaian school children every school day . The challenge facing Ghana’s school feeding programme is no longer simply about increasing the feeding grant. It is about transforming the entire delivery model.

After nearly two decades of implementation, Ghana has accumulated sufficient evidence to show that the current decentralized caterer-based model, where thousands of individual caterers procure, cook, and serve meals independently has reached its operational limits. Rather than simply increasing the allocation every few years, Ghana must now embrace a more efficient, accountable, and cost-effective model: the Central Kitchen School Feeding System.

The Cost Reality

Anyone who buys food today understands that GH¢2.00 cannot purchase a nutritionally balanced meal. Food inflation, transportation costs, cooking fuel, labour, food safety requirements, and supply chain disruptions have all increased significantly over the past few years.

Independent assessments of the Ghana School Feeding Programme including the recent Joint Evaluation by the World Food Programme and Government of Ghana covering 2015–2025, identify persistent challenges that include delayed payments, inconsistent meal quality, weak monitoring systems, inadequate nutrition standards, procurement inefficiencies, and accountability gaps. Research over the years has consistently pointed to structural problems rather than merely funding shortfalls. Increasing the allocation without addressing these structural inefficiencies simply means the government will continue spending more money through an outdated system.

Bigger Budgets Alone Will Not Solve the Problem

School feeding is no longer viewed globally as merely providing food. Today it is recognized as a strategic investment in education, nutrition, agriculture, public health, local economic development, climate resilience and human capital development. Countries that have successfully modernized school feeding systems have done so by redesigning delivery systems not merely increasing budgets.

The question Ghana should ask is simple: How do we feed more children better, safer, and at lower cost? The answer increasingly lies in centralized production systems.

Why Central Kitchens Make Economic Sense

Central kitchen models operate differently from thousands of scattered cooking sites. Instead of every caterer purchasing ingredients independently, a professionally managed kitchen procures food in bulk directly from farmers and suppliers. Meals are prepared using industrial-grade equipment under strict food safety standards before being distributed efficiently to schools within designated service areas.

This model generates substantial economies of scale. Bulk procurement significantly reduces food costs. Standardized recipes improve nutritional quality, and professional nutritionists can ensure balanced menus. Food safety becomes easier to monitor, waste is reduced, and monitoring becomes digital and transparent.

Most importantly, every cedi invested feeds more children. Instead of thousands of separate kitchens duplicating infrastructure, fuel consumption, transportation, and procurement costs, a centralized operation consolidates resources into a highly efficient production system. This is exactly why governments and development partners around the world are increasingly investing in central kitchen infrastructure.

Kenya Has Already Shown Africa What Is Possible

Perhaps Africa’s most celebrated example today is Food4Education in Kenya. Beginning as a small social enterprise, Food4Education now serves over 450,000 children daily through modern central kitchens supported by technology, digital payments, efficient logistics, and data-driven operations.

By centralizing procurement, preparation, and distribution, the organization has dramatically lowered operating costs while improving meal quality and accountability. Children receive nutritious meals consistently, parents contribute affordable fees through digital platforms like the Tap2Eat wristband, and governments partner with the organization to scale school feeding sustainably. Food4Education has become one of the continent’s strongest demonstrations that school feeding can be efficient, scalable, and financially sustainable.

Global Best Practice Is Moving Towards Centralization

The Global Child Nutrition Foundation, the School Meals Coalition, and the World Food Programme all emphasize that successful school meal systems increasingly depend on stronger institutional capacity, professional food preparation, nutrition standards, quality assurance, and efficient procurement systems.

Around the world—from Brazil’s PNAE program to India’s Mid-Day Meal Scheme, and community-led models in the Philippines—large-scale urban school feeding programmes increasingly rely on central production kitchens supported by modern logistics. These systems improve food safety, reduce costs, enhance accountability, and make nutrition standards easier to enforce. For rapidly urbanizing cities such as Accra and Kumasi, central kitchens are particularly appropriate because schools are located within manageable delivery distances.

Ghana Already Has Local Evidence

This is not merely a foreign concept. For over a decade, Food for All Africa has been quietly building practical experience through its LunchBox School Feeding Initiative. Since 2016, the initiative has supported public and low-income private basic schools that fall outside government school feeding coverage by providing free and subsidized nutritious meals, establishing school kitchens, training caterers, supporting Parent-Teacher Associations, and mobilizing private sector resources.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, LunchBox adapted rapidly by delivering food packages directly to school children’s homes and later expanded to support thousands of children across five regions with food ingredients, hygiene supplies, and caterer training. These experiences have provided invaluable lessons.

While community-based school kitchens remain important in rural settings, urban school feeding presents different realities. Urban schools often lack adequate cooking space, fuel costs are higher, food procurement is fragmented, food safety supervision is difficult, and traffic and logistics create additional inefficiencies. These realities increasingly point toward centralized production as the next logical evolution.

The LunchBox Central Kitchen Vision

Recognizing these lessons, Food for All Africa has developed a proposal for establishing an Ultramodern Urban Central School Feeding Kitchen in Accra. The vision is ambitious yet practical. The proposed facility would centrally procure food from local farmers, prepare nutritious meals under internationally accepted food safety standards, package meals hygienically, and distribute them efficiently to schools across Greater Accra. The first phase targets production of 10,000 meals daily, with expansion to reach 20,000 children each day while creating local employment opportunities.

This is not intended to replace government. Rather, it demonstrates how public-private partnerships can complement and strengthen the Ghana School Feeding Programme. The model can reduce operational costs while improving nutrition outcomes, transparency, and accountability.

Reform Must Go Beyond Funding

The recent announcement by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection that broader reforms are underway including stronger nutrition standards, the introduction of soybean powder into traditional meals, and the piloting of the School Connect digital monitoring tool—is highly encouraging.

These reforms provide an ideal opportunity to rethink how meals are produced and delivered. Increasing allocations should therefore be accompanied by investments in modern food production infrastructure, digital monitoring systems, nutrition oversight, and innovative public-private partnerships.

A National Conversation Whose Time Has Come

Every Ghanaian agrees that no child should study on an empty stomach. The question is no longer whether we should feed children. The question is how we feed them.

The increase from GH¢1.50 to GH¢2.00 deserves applause. The government has listened. But the next chapter requires even greater courage. If Ghana truly wants to build one of Africa’s most efficient and sustainable school feeding systems, then we must move beyond incremental increases in feeding grants and embrace structural innovation.

The Central Kitchen model offers precisely that opportunity. It is an opportunity to feed more children. Feed them better. Feed them safer. Feed them at lower cost. And ultimately, invest more wisely in the future of Ghana.

School feeding is not merely an expenditure. It is one of the highest-return investments any nation can make in its human capital. The time has come for Ghana to build the next generation of school feeding—one central kitchen at a time.

By Chef Elijah A. Addo, Executive Director, Food for All Africa

Reference List

[1] Citi Newsroom. (2026). School Feeding grant raised from GH¢1.50 to GH¢2 — Gender Minister. https://www.citinewsroom.com/2026/06/school-feeding-grant-raised-from-gh%C2%A21-50-to-gh%C2%A22-gender-minister/

[2] Ghana News Agency. (2026). School Feeding Programme undergoes reforms to improve nutrition, accountability. https://gna.org.gh/2026/06/school-feeding-programme-undergoes-reforms-to-improve-nutrition-accountability/

[3] BudgIT Ghana. (2025). Feeding Futures: The Ghana’s School Feeding Program Journey Through Challenges and Hope. https://ghana.budgit.org/2025/04/10/feeding-futures-the-ghanas-school-feeding-program-journey-through-challenges-and-hope/

[4] World Food Programme. (2025). Ghana, School feeding programme 2015-2025: Joint evaluation. https://www.wfp.org/publications/ghana-school-feeding-programme-2015-2025-joint-evaluation

[5] School Meals Coalition. (2024). The State of School Feeding Worldwide 2024. https://schoolmealscoalition.org/

[6] Food4Education. (2026). Our Work. https://food4education.org/our-work/

[7] Global Child Nutrition Foundation. (2026). Why School Meals. https://gcnf.org/

[8] PNAE Brazil. (2024). English - Observatório da Alimentação Escolar. https://alimentacaoescolar.org.br/english/

[9] Akshaya Patra Foundation. (2026). Centralised Kitchens. https://www.akshayapatra.org/centralised-kitchens

[10] Global Health: Science and Practice. (2022). A Community-Led Central Kitchen Model for School Feeding in the Philippines. https://www.ghspjournal.org/

[11] GhanaWeb. (2021). Food for All Africa launches 2021 LunchBox school feeding initiative. https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Food-for-All-Africa-launches-2021-LunchBox-school-feeding-initiative-1189345

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