PEOPLE OF SALIMA SING PRAISES OF ‘AFIKEPO’ PROJECT
By Aamon Butao
Communities from Salima District have hailed a project being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, Government and UNICEF for uplifting their lives and dealing with child malnutrition.
The AFIKEPO Project is being implemented with funding from the European, EU, in 10 districts with the aim of improving the availability and accessibility to affordable, diversified and nutritious food for all seasons.
In an interview with Timveni, the communities say their living standards have improved as the project has created a lot of opportunities.
The AFIKEPO Project, which is targeting 675,000 people, commenced in 2017 and it will end in 2023.
One of the beneficiaries of the project from Ngwindo Village, Traditional Authority Kambwiri in Salima, Hawa Yusuf, said her family has been transformed through the skills acquired from the projects.
Yusuf said they have been told how to promote good health especially among children and expectant women just like her.
According to Yusuf, she now has a backyard garden and livestock which is helping her family to have nutritious food for their well-being and enhanced nutrition for children in the household.
She added that many families from the area are now financially stable as they sell vegetable and livestock to earn a living.
In his remarks, Nutrition Champion from Chimphanga Village Traditional Authority Kambwiri, Yohane Lighton, said malnutrition is now an issue of the past .
Lighton said households are now aware of how to prepare nutritious food and consistently provide the food to members of the household.
Commenting on the issue, village headman Katumba said he is making sure that communities are using the knowledge gained from the project so that their families should remain healthier.
He added he is pleased that men are also taking part.
Salima District Agriculture Extension Officer Blessings M`bawa said he is delighted to learn that communities are responding well to the project.
The project is being implemented in districts such as Salima, Thyolo, Kasungu, Nkhotakota and Chitipa.
