KAYANZA October 1st (ABP) – The University of Ngozi in partnership with Christian Aid, organized, Tuesday September 28, in the headquarters of Kayanza province (north), a workshop on the revitalization of local coordination structures of food security and nutrition as well as advocacy in favor of vulnerable people.
The beneficiaries of that workshop were provincial administrators and food security stakeholders from Kayanza and Ngozi provinces, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
In her welcoming speech, the adviser to the governor of Kayanza in charge of finances, Mrs. Justine Komezadusabe, pointed out that this activity was organized at the right time because, she explained, a good diet leads to a good health, the engine of development.
She took that opportunity to call on the various food and nutrition security stakeholders to get more involved, since cases of malnutrition remain a reality in the community. She wants malnutrition to be eradicated in Kayanza province, especially since that province is fertile, she added.
In his turn, the Permanent Executive Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, in charge of the multisectoral platform for food health and nutrition, Dr. Célestin Sibomana, said that the causes of malnutrition are largely linked to insufficient nutritional intake, ignorance good nutritional practices, and the low standard of living of households.
Regarding the results of good nutrition during the life cycle, Dr Sibomana highlighted the decrease in mortality, cognitive, motor and socio-emotional development, good learning capacity and school performance, good adult height, decrease in obesity and chronic diseases, increase in productivity as well as the ability to work.
During the discussions, the challenges facing the food security and nutrition sector were raised, among others, the lack of an action plan, the lack of appropriation of local administrators, the scarcity of arable land, lack of knowledge of the population on the diversification and preparation of food, the insufficiency of selected seeds as well as the uncoordinated intervention at the community level. To that end, they proposed solutions, namely the development of an action plan on food security and nutrition, the establishment of an information and communication system, the promotion of block culture, the involvement of research centers and seed multipliers, the sustainability of the achievements of various projects in this sector as well as the mapping of interventions to avoid the overlap of similar projects in the same action areas.
Considering that the project to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on food security and nutrition is carried out by the University of Ngozi in partnership with Christian Aïd in the communes of Ruhororo and Muhanga respectively of the Ngozi and Kayanza provinces, Mrs. Komezadusabe asked extension of the project to other communes.