Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
Residents of Makoni District are taking a proactive approach to combat mal-nutrition after embarking on various community projects to complement government initiatives towards food security.
In a bold move to enhance food and nutrition security, the Zimbabwean government under the National development Strategy One has established national and sub-national structures to strengthen existing food security committees.
The initiative is meant to ensure the citizenry has access to nutritious food during and outside El Nino-induced droughts.
In Taaguta village of Makoni District, ingenuity and collaboration are the weapons of choice in combating malnutrition which according to a recent Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee Report affects 18.6 percent of adolescents in the district.
To address the challenge, staff at Holy Name Matsika Primary School have joined forces with the local community and various government ministries to launch projects where they are growing their own food, including school gardens and community-led farming initiatives.
The school’s principal, Mr Reuben Mamhunze said, “We have a lot of projects, one of them is the nursery project where we do budding of trees as well as grafting. We also have a fishery project where we produce fish. We are being assisted by these projects towards the feeding programme and are managing to feed our children every day, five days a week. We have a menu where we give them what is known as the five-star diet, a diet with all the required body nutrients, we give them fish as well as vitamins. We have an orchard where we have oranges, and we give the child at least one fruit per day. I want to happily report that we don’t have a case of malnutrition at the school as well as the community.”
“The goal is to try and provide a foster meal, that is, a meal that has got staples, legumes, fruits and vegetables, and an animal source. But, however, we are encouraging our schools to give whatever it is that they have at their disposal as they continue to look for more resources to improve their school feeding programmes. So far, the programmes we are implementing in our schools are aimed to address problems of over and under nutrition, as well as iron-deficiency anaemia within the district.
“The community is playing a big role in promoting the school nutrition programme. They are providing grain for the schools, and in some cases they are also providing relish for the children,” said district nutritionist for Makoni district, Lorine Ndangana.
The fight against malnutrition extends beyond school walls with community gardens flourishing, thereby providing households with a vital source of fruit and vegetable diet.
Headman Lazarus Mudyarabikwa said, “As a community, we decided to work with the school so that we help our children who are learning at this school. At the school there is a nursery and we have put a law that every household should have at least three different fruit trees. This is helping our children so that they can have fruits and ward off mal-nutrition and this will also help the environment.”
Nutrition Champion, Mrs Tendai Matanhire added, “To other Zimbabweans, I urge them to venture into these income generating projects as they can be a source of income as well as nutrition.”
“We have orange trees and it’s been three seasons now of harvesting these oranges. We also have a fish project we harvested about 10 000 fish. I would like to urge other women to work for themselves and not always rely on donor funding,” noted another nutrition Champion, Gogo Maringa.
With remarkable progress already achieved, Makoni district’s multi-faceted approach to combating malnutrition serves as a beacon of hope for other communities.
By cultivating self-sufficiency, fostering community engagement and leveraging government support, this rural district is proving that malnutrition can be effectively combatted through community-driven initiatives.
