Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has championed the school feeding programme in Rome, adding that it will transform the food system in Kenya.
Addressing delegates on Monday during the UN Summit, he said Kenya has made great progress since the introduction of free and compulsory education in 2003.
"Kenya believes in the collective dream of human capital development by offering quality education for all and addressing the sustainable development goal agendas of zero hunger and good health and well-being," Gachagua said.
He said the government is supporting various school meal programmes mainly targeting children in the arid and semi-arid (ASAL) regions.
"Despite this, there are still glaring inequalities among school-going children across the country due to a combination of factors, including poverty, food insecurity, recurrent droughts, conflicts and displacements, and periodic migration," Gachagua said.
The DP said that feeding children while in school is a solution to a myriad of challenges facing children, including child poverty, malnutrition, among others.
Currently, the school feeding programme benefits over 1.6 million pupils across the country, especially in arid and semi-arid lands.
It has been shown to increase enrollment and retention of pupils, as well as meet nutritional needs.
In this year's budget, the Government doubled funds for the school meals programme to Sh5 billion.
Kenya's Ambassador to Italy Jackline Yonga says participation at the Summit is key as the country takes a raft of measures on enhancing food security in the context of the vagaries of Climate Change.
"This is a high-level meeting. It is significant to Kenya to shine and also seek partnership on fostering food security," she said.
Among other initiatives, Gachagua will also speak to measures of sustainably lowering the cost of living especially subsidising production, as opposed to consumption; in the case of the subsidized fertiliser.
