MAKAMBA, February 16th (ABP) – The beneficiary people of the Nkuriza project say they are satisfied with the achievements of the project because, they explain, thanks to it, they were able to change their eating habits by using locally-produced food.
This emerged from a supervision visit organized in Kayogoro and Nyanza-Lac communes of Makamba province (southern Burundi) by a nutrition specialist from the World Bank to inquire about the achievements of the said project.
The Nkuriza project has initiated Growth Promotion Monitoring (SPC) sites on each village of the province, where children are screened to see their growth situation. A child who is malnourished is admitted to the FARN for 12 days.
According to the technical director of the Nkuriza project at the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Mr. Stanislas Nyabenda, the beneficiaries received maize seeds, vegetables, fruit trees, including avocado trees, as well as small livestock, namely hens and roosters, rabbits and pigs, as well as mushrooms.
Agronomists teach beneficiaries how to prepare and monitor fields to increase production. He asks technical and financial partners to continue supporting Burundi to win the fight against malnutrition.
A community health worker from Kibimba in Kayogoro commune, Mr. Eliphaz Nyandwi, pleads for SPCs to be increased in the villages because, he explains, they have vast villages. He shares the same opinion with the leader of the Nyabigina village in Nyanza-Lac who says that the increase in those SPCs will make it possible to reach as many children as possible.
On that occasion, the governor’s advisor in charge of development, Mr. Pius Nimbona, indicated that with existing production, families with malnourished children have acquired the habits of preparing a balanced diet in households. He asks donors to extend the period of the Nkuriza project.