Greenhouses are opening in rural schools in Armenia’s Ararat region today with the goal of increasing schoolchildren’s dietary diversity and improving their nutrition. All three greenhouses – in the public schools of Vedi, Verin Artashat and Surenavan – are equipped with modern heating, ventilation and drip irrigation systems.

This activity is part of a major project aimed at strengthening food security and nutrition in selected countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia, funded by the Russian Federation and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in technical partnership with the Russian Social and Industrial Foodservice Institute. The FAO pilot will serve as a model that can be replicated to ensure the sustainability of the national school feeding programme in Armenia.