NUTRITIOUS FOOD UPTAKE GOES UP IN KARONGA

Office of Agriculture in Karonga district has expressed satisfaction towards increased numbers of households taking nutritious food through initiatives being implemented by Afikepo and KULIMA projects in the District.

Addressing members of Karonga Press Club during a Media Briefing Desk Officer for Afikepo project in Karonga Keston Sinkhonde the project has reached nearly two hundred thousand people out of over three hundred total population of people in the district since 2018 with messages and activities about nutrition which represents 49 per cent.

“We thought it wise to call upon journalists that they should have a proper information about what our project is doing since 2018 till now, about 180,840 out of 370,370 people have been reached and want the numbers to increase more so that we completely deal with issues of malnutrition.”

But on the other hand Sinkhonde has encouraged journalists to write more about gender balance so that many men participate in this fight against malnutrition because most men do not see to be important, encouraging their family members eating six food groups.

“Actually men do not feel like it is necessary for them to be part of encouragement so that the numbers of people to be saved from malnutrition scale up, therefore it is the duty of journalists to be on the forefront.”

In an interview with Chairperson for Karonga Press Club Andrew Mkonda Banda, the briefing has served as an additional eye opener for journalists because it have brought a lot of facts to journalists in attendance which most of them were lacking in their daily assignments.

“We thank the office of Agriculture through the two projects, because this briefing has further marked the new era among journalists when executing their jobs. This has given me as a Chairperson for the Club an expectation that more numbers of households will be reached with nutritional information.”

Among other beneficiaries of the projects are under five children, lactating and pregnant mothers, and it funded by Food and Agriculture Organization, European Union and UNICEF?

By Winkly Mwaulambo