Integrating Smallholder Agriculture into School Feeding Programs: Addressing the Agri-Health Disconnect

School feeding programs can improve child nutrition while creating stronger local markets for smallholder farmers. Drawing on cases from Malaysia and Indonesia, this policy brief examines the administrative, financial, and logistical barriers that limit smallholder participation in institutional food procurement. It identifies practical options, including community-based aggregation, faster farmer payments, flexible use of local foods in school menus, stronger nutrition monitoring, and improved cold chain systems, to better connect school feeding with local agriculture. The brief offers insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to strengthen food and nutrition security, smallholder market access, and rural economic resilience in Southeast Asia.