Children in Lupembe-Mlare in Karonga District have appealed to their parents and guardians to establish backyard gardens to grow different crops to improve nutrition at household level.
They said this on Friday during a nutrition dialogue session World Vision Malawi organised for children to discuss challenges affecting the consumption of six food groups.
In an interview, Tionge Mwenengana said embracing homestead farming will ensure that parents have all types of vegetables, fruits and domestic animals that will be producing milk, meat and eggs needed for six food groups.
“We often fail to eat six food groups because our parents do not take the initiative to produce vegetables and rear animals that can provide us with milk and meat. Therefore, we urge parents to embrace homestead farming,” she said.
Lupembe Area Nutrition Coordinating Committee member Blessings Masauli said Lupembe and Mlare are rain shadow areas; hence, the need to empower people with irrigation farming skills to enhance winter farming.
World Vision Karonga district manager Hendrix Kalanje said the nutrition dialogues are part of the organisation’s Enough Campaign designed to ensure that every child has sufficient food.
“The initiative aims at creating a platform for children to express their views on hunger and malnutrition,” he said.
Karonga district principal nutrition, HIV and Aids officer Hamilton Gondwe said stunting for under-five children in the district is at 28.4 percent while underweight is at 9.2 percent and wasting among children is at 2.2 percent.
