 of the participants.
More emphasis was laid on lunch and supper than breakfast. The respondents explained that, once they had supper, they could perform adequately until lunch time the following day. This is also a coping mechanism that people adopt (adjusting to two or one meal per day) during food shortages and lack of money until it becomes routine although it is not appropriate for good nutrition. The difference in dietary intake adequacy between the two groups may be attributed to the fact that the school lunch provides a higher amount of calories and proteins for participants than that provided by the home lunch for non-participants. Thus, the school lunch plays a significant role in its contribution to the overall diet adequacy of the participants as it contributes more than a third of RDA of nutrients.
A good quality meal will improve nutritional status, which is vital for mental development and consequently academic performance. The school lunch provided the pupils with more than a third of the RDA. School lunches should provide a third of the RDA since lunch is one of the three main meals that a person is required to eat in a day. The other two are breakfast and supper. Pollit  also agrees that foods provided for school age children should satisfy the high demands of rapid growth, intense physical activity and mental development. Consequently, in cases of wasted school children, SFP are required to correct moderate wasting and prevent moderately undernourished children from becoming severely undernourished. Thus, the SFP should be nutritionally adequate to achieve this objective.
The lunch nutrient intake of the participants was significantly higher than that of the nonparticipants. This means that the school lunch contributed significantly to the total daily nutrient intake of participants. This may suggest that the school lunch significantly enhanced their nutritional status as compared to the non-participants. The significant relationship between school lunch and nutritional status (weight-for-age and weight-for-height) implies that the SLP has an effect on nutritional status of school children in Emuhaya Division. It leads to the acceptance of the hypothesis that nutritional status of participants is better than that of the non-participants.
The large number of non-participants who were underweight as compared to participants is consistent with the findings of Hijazi and Abdulatif  in Jordan, where the weights of children participating in the lunch programme were significantly and generally higher the non-participants. The significant association between school lunch and weight-for-age indicates that the school lunch contributes towards better nutritional status of the participants. This supports the hypothesis that nutritional status of participants as determined by weightfor-age is better than that of the non-participants. The lower prevalence of underweight as compared to that of stunting correlates well with the ACC/SCN  report where underweight, due to chronic under nutrition or wasting was found to affect fewer children globally than stunting.
The prevalence of stunting among the non-participants was higher than the national rate. Findings of Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS)  revealed that stunting, a feature of chronic under nutrition, is the most prevalent presentation of malnutrition with a current national rate of 33%. Similarly, ACC/SCN  reported that an estimated 32.5% of children in developing countries are stunted. Thus, the prevalence in the area of study indicates a need for intervention. In his research agenda of 2005, Corvina  also agrees that there's need to develop interventions to confront undernutrition.
The significantly higher levels of stunting among the non-participants in the area of study as compared to the participants indicates that the school lunch may have played a big role in reducing levels of stunting among participants. Since stunting is a long-term deficit, this implies that non-participants could have suffered food deprivation for a long time. Participation in th