By Josiah Mpofu
Limited access to affordable and nutritious foods has led to an increase in malnutrition and stunting among rural communities in Zambia. According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nutrition Profile for Zambia, about 35 percent of children under five years are stunted and acutely malnourished.
Malnourished children have a weak immune system, which makes them susceptible to sickness. Usually, in severe cases, malnutrition is life-threatening and can cause death.
In an effort to increase production, retention and consumption of diverse range of nutritious foods by smallholder agricultural households, Musika a non-profit organization, with funding from Irish Aid, is implementing a programme dubbed “Making Agriculture Market Work for the Rural Poor”.
Musika Managing Director Reuben Banda disclosed that more than 30,000 households in the project implementation areas have so far benefitted from Musika’s intervention.
Mr. Banda said the organization will continue to partner with government in ensuring that the rural livelihood is uplifted through provision of agricultural markets strategies and production of diverse nutritious crops.
He noted that production and consumption of bio fortified crops was among the interventions Musika continues to promote in order to improve the nutrition status of the rural communities, especially children and women who are the most vulnerable.
“Our aim as an organization is to help people in the rural areas to improve their nutrition status by promoting the growing and consumption of bio-fortified crops such as orange maize, orange sweet potatoes and Mbereshi beans among others which are rich in Vitamin A,” said Mr. Banda.
Bio-fortified crops are invested with Vitamin A which is a powerful supplement that helps to improve the eyesight of human beings especially children, researchers have affirmed.
Mr Banda explained that most children in rural parts of Zambia have vitamin A deficiency due to lack of bio-fortified crops, hence the need to encourage more farmers in the country to grow and consume bio-fortified crops.
60 Kilometers away from Kapiri Mposhi district of Central Province in Mukonchi area is Esnart Banda who has seen the benefits of growing bio-fortified crops such as orange maize at her farm.
Mrs Banda has thanked Musika for encouraging her to grow orange maize and orange sweet potatoes as the crops have helped to enhance the nutrition status of her household.
She stated that before Musika’s intervention she was not aware that orange maize was a nutritional crop as she perceived it as tasteless without any nutritive content.
“When a team from the ministry of agriculture and Musika visited my farm in 2019 to teach me about bio-fortified crops I didn’t take it seriously because I thought it was one of those programmes which would not yield results like many others that have come and go, but when they mentioned about eyes I got interested because I and my granddaughter had eye challenges,” explained Mrs. Banda.
Mrs Banda said she was motivated to grow both orange maize and orange sweet potatoes after the team which visited, explained to her the health and agronomic benefits of vitamin A.
She disclosed that in the 2019-2020 farming season she managed to grow a hectare of orange sweet potatoes and a Lima of orange sweet potatoes which were specifically for consumption.
Mrs Banda stated that when she harvested the crops she completely stopped eating white maize but instead started eating orange maize as Sample and Nshima.
“As soon as I was done with harvesting I made sample and mealie meal out of orange maize, of which we started eating sample for breakfast and Nshima for lunch as well as super every day. All I wanted was to no whether what the team said was the truth or not regarding eyes,” said Mrs. Banda.
Mrs Banda noted that before she started consuming orange maize her eyes where always red and paining as if someone had thrown sand in her eyes.
Mrs Banda observed that for several years she was unable to see clearly due to the pain she was experiencing in her eyes.
She affirmed that since the time she started consuming these bio-fortified foods her eyes are no longer facing the similar problems as she was now able to see clearly.
Mrs Banda further explained that her granddaughter’s eyes have now transformed from red to white and are no longer paining like the way they were previously before embarking on eating orange maize.
She said before the nutrition intervention she had given up on her granddaughter because many people where advising her that the condition of her granddaughter was hereditary and cannot be changed.
Mrs Banda encouraged fellow mothers to always cook bio-fortified foods if they are to attain good nutrition status in their homes.
She said this current farming season she will increase production of orange maize from the previous 2021-2022 farming season were she grew 1.5 hectare to 3 hectares as she has seen the benefits of growing orange maize in improving nutrition and income.
Farmers and agro dealers in Monze district of Southern Province have equally benefited from the Making Agriculture Market Work for the Rural Poor Programme.
Ederby Mwendo, the director of CASSIA Agro, was one of them and has thanked Musika for creating synergies with other stakeholders; thereby, enhancing the production of orange sweet potatoes and other bio-fortified crops among farmers in Monze.
Mrs Mwendo said through the empowerment, she has managed to engage more farmers in the district and helped them to grow orange sweet potatoes and orange maize as well as Mbereshi beans at a medium scale.
Shila Chiluli is a farmer from Chief Choongo of Monze district. She is grateful to Cassia Agro for empowering her and helping her increase orange sweet potato production at her farm.
Mrs Chiluli disclosed that from the empowerment she has managed to buy a cow and meet other basic needs at home.
She said the health status of her children has greatly improved ever since the nutrition programme was introduced to her.
Such interventions should be replicated all over Zambia if malnutrition and stunting were to be abridged.-NAIS
