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Elita Chikwati

Acting Features Editor

It’s in the morning and a 33-year-old mother is preparing a lunch box for her ECD son. 

She packs maize snacks, a lollipop and bottle of drink. This is the food that the child enjoys and if given any other food, the boy brings the lunch box back home full.

The mother now knows what her son enjoys, but does not take into account the nutritional value of the food she is packing.

Lack of knowledge on food and nutrition has resulted in malnutrition in most children and even adults resulting in chronic food and nutrition insecurity.

Malnutrition has been a challenge in most African countries with research showing that lack of knowledge on dietary requirements are affecting many people and sometimes resulting in malnutrition or obesity.

Having a balanced diet can be enhanced if people are aware of the nutritional value of the food they take.

Some people think having a balanced diet is expensive, but some communities eat locally available food in right quantities and enjoy a balanced diet without forking out a lot of money.

Government in collaboration with several non-governmental organisations including Pelum Zimbabwe are educating communities on eating healthy; ensuring people have a balanced diet.

The stakeholders are working towards addressing the triple burden of malnutrition the country is facing mainly stunting in children, over-nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.

PELUM Zimbabwe advocates for a model of food production which empowers and responds to individual household needs in an affordable, locally relevant, food secure, nutrition secure and sustainable manner.

The farmers who have undergone training on the nutrition testified that they were now aware of what a balanced diet plate of food should have.

Most of these farmers have also increased production of traditional grains that have high nutrition value.

These crops are also tolerant to drought and in times of low rainfall can still perform well with households guaranteed of food and nutrition security.

One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Chimanimani farmer, Mrs Rebecca Chiminda said a healthy meal should contain all the nutrients required by the body; vitamins, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and starch.

“It is not always good to be eating sadza and rape only everyday. Some eat this type of food in the morning, afternoon and evening. The family will not benefit everything even if they eat in huge quantities,” she said.

“Another farmer, Mrs Gladys Zimunda said people can consume locally-available food and still have a balanced diet.

“We can eat sadza, termites, green vegetables and indigenous fruits. Nowadays some people shun traditional fruits and foods, but this is not healthy as it will result in complications. People end up going back to the traditional nutritious food when they fall ill because of their and eating habits.

Mrs Ndakaitei Ndoorwi of Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers’ Forum (Zimsoff) said a balanced diet should offer around 60-70 percent of total calories from carbohydrates, 10-12 percent from proteins and 20-25 percent of total calories from fat.

She said people should have gardens where they grow a variety of crops to have a balanced diet.

It has also been noted that some kids do not enjoy the traditional foods with others suggesting that it is not always because of lack of exposure, but sometimes has to do with the way the food is prepared.

Mrs Lillian Muzamba of Mt Darwin said sometimes mothers do not prepare the food in a way that will appetise their children.

“For instance when preparing mahewu one has to be extra hygienic. Some people use the old methods of preparations such as mixing with bare hands. 

“Imagine a mother preparing mahewu and at the same time cleaning her nose with the same hands. Obviously the children will; not want to drink the beverage.

“Mothers should also be creative and find ways of making the food attractive especially to the young ones,” she said.

Some of the farmers have now been trained in value addition. 

They prepared chips and biscuits using sweet potatoes and this will improve the uptake of the traditional food other than having the usual sweet potatoes and tea everyday.

Ms Benenia Jeche of Chendambuya in Makoni said it was also important for families to have animal husbandry projects at their homesteads they also have protein.

“A family can keep indigenous chickens, rabbits and goats and so they can also have meat as part of their diet.

“The small livestock is also important n that a family can also sell and buy other things or send children to school. Thus besides being a source of protein, it can also boost income,” she said.

In the past few years, the Department of Research and Specialist Services through the Crop Breeding Institute with help from non-governmental organisations released nutrient dense varieties including five vitamin A bio-fortified orange maize varieties, two quality protein maize varieties, two high iron bean varieties and two high iron cowpea varieties.

The CBI has also released Vitamin A bio-fortified orange-fleshed sweet potatoes and is also working releasing purple-fleshed sweet potatoes, iron bio-fortified pearl millet in the near future.

These bio-fortified crops are necessary in addressing the problems of hidden hunger through the provision of specific micronutrients deficiency. 

The promotion of bio-fortified crops as well as traditional and under-utilised crops is within a broader strategy that includes overall diet diversification and year-round access to a wide variety of foods including both crops and livestock.

The Ministry is also promoting production of traditional grains through The Climate Proofed Presidential Inputs Scheme popularly known as the Pfumvudza/Intwasa.

The GMB is now buying traditional grains and offering viable prices currently pegged at $ $70 263,90 per tonne.

As part of the long-term vision set out in Agenda 2063, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union has adopted common African aspirations, drawing on the potential of its populations, in particular, a human capital well-nourished citizens and in good health with a particular emphasis on women, adolescents and children. 

Human capital is key for development as it leads to improved lives for individuals, higher earnings and improved incomes for countries. In a move to address the challenge of hunger and malnutrition, the 2014 Malabo Declaration 6 committed to ending hunger and reduce child stunting to 10 percent and the underweight to 5 percent by 2025, endorsed Cost of Hunger (COHA) in Africa Study as a key advocacy tool and further endorsed the AU Nutrition Champion. 

In addition to the AU Nutrition champion, in the effort to rally high-level political engagement to advance nutrition in Africa, the African Union Heads of State and Government in 2018 endorsed the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) Initiative by the Africa Development Bank and the African Union Commission. 

In 2019, the African Union Heads of States and Government launched the Continental Accountability Nutrition Scorecard as a tool to promote accountability for the achievement of nutrition security by the continent and improve progress monitoring being made towards reaching the global and continental nutrition targets. 

To guide effective action of AU Member States to achieve nutrition targets, the African Regional Nutrition strategy (ARNS) 2015-2025 calls on all AU Member States to put together multi-sectoral nutrition action plans, budgets and expenditure tracking system for effective implementation and monitoring of nutrition interventions.