School feeding programme to incorporate fish powder
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says primary school learners under the School Feeding Programme in Karonga District will start eating porridge mixed with fish powder to improve their nutrition.
FAO project coordinator Amenye Banda said this on Tuesday when she presented Linking Small-Scale Fisheries Producers to Home Grown School Feeding Programme Pilot Project to Karonga District Nutrition Coordinating Committee.
She said the meals lack animal proteins required for children’s growth.
“Fish provides over 30 percent of the animal proteins in Malawi and in Karonga there is plenty of fish, therefore, incorporating fish and fish products will provide essential micronutrients to adolescents.
“We engaged Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources who conducted studies and recommended that fish powder from pan roasted and parboiled usipa can be mixed with maize and legume flour to cook porridge for learners. Most of the animal source foods are expensive as compared to fish.”
Karonga District Council acting principal nutrition, HIV and Aids officer Hamilton Gondwe said the project came at the right time as Karonga has low consumption of animal foodstuffs.
“This will go a long way in scaling up the percentage of people eating animal based food. Targeting school-going children will improve nutrition in our district which has plenty fish due to our proximity to Lake Malawi,” he said.
The project is being piloted in Salima, Karonga, Dowa and Mangochi districts
