NGO dares lead farmers on nutrition

Foundation for Community Support Services, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has challenged small-scale farmers in Karonga to utilise locally-available foodstuffs to fight malnutrition.

In an interview, the NGO’s field officer Elizabeth Kaonga said they distributed maize, rice and vegetable seeds to farmers during the planting season to enable them to have resources for preparing nutritious meals.

She said: “After harvesting, farmers were just preparing their usual traditional meals.

“So, we trained 47 lead farmers to make milk from soya beans, fritters from sweet potatoes and prepare six groups of food.”

Shackie Kabanga, a lead farmer, said the training was an eye-opener.

“We also learned how to spice up various foods to make an appetiser and snacks from cowpeas,” she said.

Karonga district agriculture office food and nutrition officer Keston Sinkhonde said the initiative has potential to reduce malnutrition among children in the district.

“The initiative is also improving food availability,” he said.

United States-based  Rise Against Hunger through the NGO is implementing a Scaling Up Nutrition Project in Karonga and Mzimba districts.