Zambia ups anti-stunting war

Written by on June 4, 2019

CEASAR MBEWE writes

@SunZambian

THE Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock says Zambia has intensified its efforts to fight stunting in children caused by poor nutrition.

Acting permanent secretary Benson Mwenya said Government was, through its ambitious first 1,000 most critical days programme under the auspices of the National Food and Nutrition Commission, making efforts eradicate stunting because it was a form of permanent malnutrition.

Dr Mwenya said it was important for Zambians to get into the dairy business because milk was one of the most important foods.

He was speaking on Saturday during the first ever World Milk Day commemoration held in Lusaka’s Showgrounds under the theme ‘Milk Every day, Strong Forever’.

The commemoration was organised by the Dairy Association of Zambia Chairperson, Mr Farmer Noole.

Dr Mwenya said the World Milk Day commemoration was the first of its kind in Zambia, although the first global event was held in 2001 by Food and Agriculture Organisation.

He said the World Milk Day has provided an opportunity to focus attention on milk and to publicize activities connected with milk and the entire dairy industry.

“I’m very happy to be part of this important event because it’s the first time Zambia is celebrating World Milk Day, and the fact that many countries choose to do this on the same day lends additional importance to individual national celebrations and demonstrate that milk is a good global food,” Dr Mwenya said.

And speaking at the same event, Dairy Association of Zambia chairperson Farmer Noole said he was happy that Zambia had joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Milk Day, although the event had only taken place in Lusaka.

Mr Noole said he hoped in future it would be in all parts of the country.

He said the dairy industry contributed to the economy, nutritional security and the treasury.

Mr Noole was happy that Government had continued to demonstrate commitment to the implementation of the national nutrition agenda.

He said some of strides the industry had made that were worthy noting were the increase of milk collection from 253 million litres in 2010 to 455 million litres in 2018.

The per capital consumption of dairy products had gradually increased from 19 litres in 2011 to 35 litres in 2017.

Mr Noole said the school milk programme had increased the demand for milk and the market had grown.

He added that he was thankful to the ministry of education for allowing Jakaranda basic, Lotus basic school, Lusaka girls basic and everyone who made the event fruitful as it was a noble cause.

The event had a marathon that had a good number of participants who took part in 5 and 10 kilometre Challenge under the theme “Milk everyday, strong forever” as part of the World Milk Day Commemoration.

The marathon had three winners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd who were awarded various milk packs from different companies available at the event.

The event was made possible by the participation of various companies, Parmlat, Zammilk, Varun, Dairy Gold, Finta and Promasidor.


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