Hello Shaknoza, please let us know whether or not you are able to visit ISD in Ethiopia next week - 17? Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn and Gizaw Gebremariam hope it is possible - Sue Edwards

Dear Shaknoza, it was lovely being able to meet with you on Monday, first with Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn and going to Holetta and then within the ISD office. 

Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn, please add some comment about your visit to Holetta

Shakhnoza Kurbanalieva, we forgot to sign for the cost of the taxi for the visit to Holetta, please send it to Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn and Sue Edwards and will sign and send it electronically to you.

We all much look forward to having you come and visit again. All the best from the Ethiopian NMA team.

I am also going to invite Sami joining this team for keeping each other up to date.

Dear Sue Edwards, thank you for inviting me to this team. I hope I will learn much soon on how we are going to forward on NMA project using this platform.

All the best.

Hello IFOAM Administrator, we in Ethiopia NMA team are enjoying learning to use the 'confluence' platform.

You probably know that ISD is also a partner in the SDC-supported project under the title of Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative in Africa which is very synergistic with the NMA project.

We Sue Edwards, Samuel Mekonnen, Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn and Gizaw Gebremariam would like to develop a similar 'communications platform' for good communication among our Pillar Implementing Partners (PIPs) and EAO National Steering Committee. Do you know of anyone based in Addis with high quality IT skills to whom we could arrange a contract to make a similar platform for us here? The EOA-Initiative has a rather sleepy web site <http://www.eoa-africa.org/> where you could find out more about the EOA-Initiative. 

Dear Sue,

good to hear that you see some potential in the platform and that you are interested in using it even more than only in this project. Generally there is one very good thing regarding this software: the development company Atlassian offers free licenses for non profits and they even sponsor some 3rd party plugins for the platform (if you are non profit). The support from their end was phenomenal. But there are of course technical setup/maintenance/modification activities involved which would require a skilled person or some external help. Moreover when the platform is installed in the "standard" configuration it is not much more than a plain wiki. Many things can be modified in a user friendly-way (through addons) but technical skills can still be required here. Unfortunately I don't have any links to Ethiopia (apart from this project here) so that I cannot really give you a recommendation  

Must have-skills if you want to hire somebody would be: Linux administration, Java/Tomcat setup capabilities and database setup capabilities (e.g. MySQL). Also knowledge about security certificates and SSL proxying are important if you want a safe platform. 

I hope this is helpful for you,

Simon

Dear IFOAM Administrator, 

Thank you very much for your rapid and encouraging reply. I will share this information with my ISD colleagues and also follow up with Atlassian through their web site. Your list of required skills are also very useful. I have a son-in-law (Ethiopian) with high level IT skills. Although he is presently living in London, I will also ask him to help us identify someone to help us at least in Ethiopia establish an EOA communications platform, and maybe it can be useful for coordination among the 8 African countries presently being supported by SDC in the EOA Initiative program.

With kind regards,

Sue Edwards

Dear All,

I joined the platform I hope I will learn a lot from our discussions.

Mifta Ahmed

Sue Edwards Gizaw Gebremariam Alemayehu Ayalew Tegegn Samuel Mekonnen Shakhnoza Kurbanalieva

Hello Mifta, I am very happy that you have joined the NMA Confluence platform and can become one of our Ethiopian team helping in the planning/reporting and particularly in our use of budget to our reporting clear and efficient. Sue Edwards

Can genetically modified crops end hunger in Africa?

The African Union declared 2014 the Year of Food Security. The plan is to eradicate hunger on the continent by 2025. But controversy is brewing over whether genetically modified crops can help countries reach that goal.

"What all farmers want is to produce more with less," said Brandon Mitchener, Monsanto public affairs head in Europe, the Mideast and Africa. "They have a finite amount of land, they have a finite amount of resources, and they want to get the maximum yield from their land with the seed and the water and the manpower they have to farm that land."

"Feed the mother"

Monsanto already grows trial crops of genetically modified cotton, sugar cane, tomatoes and bananas in eight African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda. South African farmers can buy Monsanto's GM corn and cotton seeds, and sow them on their fields. More than half of the corn planted there is the GM variety.

The pan AfricanAFSA promotes biodiversity and ecological land management in Africa and fights against the use of GM seeds. "Every time a crisis comes, the international community thinks that's the solution,"  But the problem is not the seeds, it's the soil, he said, adding that if you enrich the soil in a natural way then productivity will follow.

"It's like focusing on the mother, not only on the child: If you feed the mother, the child will be healthy,"

China to greatly expand geneticallymodified(GM) crops

Scotland to ban genetically modified crops

Monsanto commercialized GM corn

Many African farmers prefere to grow conventional crops

Source:Bill gates on the verge

Which category you are? From the opponents or proponnents of genetically modified organisms (GMO)?

To Dear all MAAN/DIR members

Picky eating, also known as fussy, faddy or choosy eating, is sometimes seen as being on the spectrum of ‘feeding difficulties’, where picky eating is the most common form at one end, with severe eating disorders at the other (McCormick & Markowitz, 2013). Others, however, view picky eating as having characteristics that are completely distinct from feeding disorders (Kerzner et al., 2015). Food preferences and suspicion of new foods in infancy may have had evolutionary benefits in reducing the risk of consuming toxins, but in the modern world these behaviours can provide a barrier to the acceptance of some food items. Picky eating and food neophobia (reluctance to eat or avoidance of new foods) can prevent an increase in dietary variety, and this lack of variety can lead to concern about the nutrient composition of some children's diets (Carruth et al., 1998; Jacobi, Agras, Bryson, & Hammer, 2003; Northstone & Emmett, 2013).

Source:(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

When I read this abstract I started to think about why many children lose appetite while they are not sick which is a great challenge to meet the WHO's infant and young child feeding recommendation to prevent undernutrition and its multilateral consequences like low cognitive development, susceptibility to infection, stunting .e.t.c

So why children become victims of picky fussy eating? Is it because of undiagnosed disease condition or psycho social factors?

Picky means having inflexible likes and dislikes and, therefore, being hard to please or satisfy

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

honorably invited to participate on the discussion!

Zenebech Koricho from Dessie Health Science College/Post graduate public health nutrition student

Best wishes!!

Very true, but what is IYCF? For a mother to be able to breast feed her infant adequately up to 6 months old, please explain how national policies and strategies provide the mother with the food that she needs - she cannot eat words! 

Who free of malnutrition??? Because

So, it is up to us that we have to be just like hand and glove for achieving all the targets and the SDGs as per the scheduled period of time.

zenebech Koricho likes this

Dear all MAAN members!

Just the theme for your discussion...!

It is commonly believed and practiced that fish oil is given for children assuming that it will make their brain be smart and clever in their school performances and any other activities that they can undergo. So,...?!

• Have you ever practiced it for your child? Or have you ever be given that during your childhood time and id so, are you clever enough???  
• If you apply it, does it real work?
• If it works, for how many times must it be given for the children and in what fashion?
• If it works really, what is the magic behind it?
• Manly and for most, if it works really, do we have other kind of foods that can replace the magic behind it and that can act like the fish oil exactly? Because, most of the communities are living out of the reach of fish oil and the organic fish by itself and they cant be the beneficiaries of that magic! So, what other organic and natural locally available foods can replace the role of fish oil to the growing brain????????
  Thank you utmost and wish you nice discussion time!

Nourishing millions: Stories of change in nutrition currently!!

Malnutrition costs the world trillions of dollars, but global commitment to improving people’s nutrition is on the rise, and so is our knowledge of how to do so. Over the past 50 years, understanding of nutrition has evolved beyond a narrow focus on hunger and famine. We now know that good nutrition depends not only on people’s access to a wide variety of foods, but also on the care they receive and the environment they live in. A number of countries and programs have exploited this new understanding to make enormous strides in nutrition.

So, a new book of 2016 which says “Nourishing Millions” is already launched by IFPRI just now and please update on the current nutrition and agricultural issues of our globe at this time.

From the book “Nourishing Millions”: - Stories of Change in Nutrition brings together the most intriguing stories from the past five decades to show what works in nutrition; what does not, and the factors that contribute to success. The stories gathered here examine interventions that address nutrition directly—such as community nutrition programming and feeding programs for infants and young children—as well as nutrition-sensitive policies related to agriculture, social protection, and clean water and sanitation. The authors consider efforts to combat the severest forms of acute malnutrition as well as overweight and obesity. They shed light on nutrition success stories on the ground in places ranging from Bangladesh, Brazil, Nepal, Peru, Thailand, and Vietnam to Ethiopia and the state of Odisha in India. The book also examines how nutrition “champions” emerge and drive change. Altogether, Nourishing Millions is a unique look at past and emerging nutrition successes and challenges around the world.

See the book attached below...!

Dear Amaha

I forward my gratitude that you share the story from "Nourishing Millions".The initiation that nutrition is a multifaceted domain which if the world must be nutrition friendly, nutrition sensitive policies together with their implementation must be multi sectoral as you make us read (posted) in "Nourishing Millions".

Dear Zenebech

Thank you for sharing

Dear MAAn Members

The factors that affect the nutritional requirements of an individual are the quality and quantity of the food they eat, the efficiency of their digestive system in absorbing and utilizing eaten food and biochemical availability.

The quality of food that we eat can vary depending on the soil and growing conditions of that food. Soil that has been overworked and chemicals added and also drugs and antibiotics that have been given to livestock and crops to aid growth are all factors that affect nutrition in our food and can affect our own body’s biochemistry. Nutritional quality of our food can be affected by the manufacturing process, storage and preparation of our food.

The quantity of food that we eat also influences our nutritional status. In developing countries malnutrition is a huge problem but in developed countries under nutrition can occur due to dependency on heavy refined processed foods.

The efficiency of our digestive system affects our nutritional status. Bad condition of our intestines will reduce the absorption of digested foods into our blood stream. Metabolic faults, sensitivity to certain food and the presence of substances like tea and coffee can affect the absorption rate of certain nutrients.

Biochemical availability is the optimum range of intake of a person essential nutritional requirement. This nutritional requirement is influenced by age, growth, sex, pregnancy and breastfeeding, illness, psychological and emotional stress, activity level and other factors like smoking and drinking.

Nutritional requirements change as a person gets older, because the elderly use a lot of medication their absorption, excretion and utilization of nutrients can be affected. Growing children have different nutritional needs to that of adults. For example, a growing infant requires a higher intake of essential fatty acids than that of an adult. In the same way there are different nutrition requirements for young and old there are also very different requirements between the sexes. For example, a woman’s nutritional requirements can vary throughout her menstrual cycle, also a woman who is pregnant or breastfeeding has different nutritional requirement to that of one who is not.

Nutritional requirement vary depending on whether someone is healthy or ill. As diseases are unique so are the nutritional requirements needed whilst that person is ill. The same applies to psychological and emotional stress. When people are affected by stress their appetite is affected, this results in less intake of food which in turn results in less nutrients being absorbed.

A person activity level will affect their nutritional requirement. An athlete will need a different nutritional requirement to that of an office worker. Exercise improves metabolic efficiency in some people and increases nutrient requirement.

People may find that certain nutritional requirements are increase within their family. Genetics can play a part in an extra need for certain nutrients. Other factors such as using recreational drugs, smoking and drinking can affect nutrient requirements. Even beverages like Tea and Coffee can affect nutrient requirements they both inhibit the absorption of Iron and Zinc.

Dear MAAN  members

here is some highlights about non communicable disease for discussion, I try to focus on non communicable disease since

It is directly related with the food what we eat and our life style modification on health promotion behaviors.

It can be prevented through life style modification

Its prevalence and magnitude was substantially increased particularly in low and middle income countries.

Management of non communicable disease is difficult takes longer time, even have no definitive management

Cost of management is very high /expensive ........

GLOBAL STATUS REPORT on non-communicable diseases 

This global status report is the second in a triennial series tracking worldwide progress in prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The e primary target audiences of this report are ministers of health. Other target audiences include policy makers in health and relevant non-health sectors, health officials, nongovernmental Organizations, academia, development agencies and civil society.

The human, social and economic consequences of NCDs are felt by all countries but are particularly devastating in poor and vulnerable populations. Reducing the global burden of NCDs is an overriding priority and a necessary condition for sustainable development. As the leading cause of death globally, NCDs were responsible for 38 million (68%) of the world’s 56 million deaths in 2012. More than 40% of them (16 million) were premature deaths under age 70 years. Almost three quarters of all NCD deaths (28 million), and the majority of premature deaths (82%), occur in low- and middle-income countries. During 2011–2025, cumulative economic losses due to NCDs under a “business as usual” scenario in low- and middle-income countries have been estimated at US$ 7 Trillion. This sum far outweighs the annual US$ 11.2 billion cost of implementing a set of high-impact interventions to reduce the NCD burden.

The World Health Assembly also endorsed a set of actions organized around the World Health Organization (WHO) Global action plan for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases 2013–2020 (Global NCD Action Plan 2013–2020). The set of actions is organized around six objectives aimed at strengthening national capacity, multisectoral action and boosting international cooperation to reduce exposure to risk factors, strengthen health systems, and monitor progress in attaining the global NCD targets.It also  Recognizing  that progress in implementing the roadmap of commitments included in the 2011 Political Declaration was insufficient and highly uneven, and that continued and increased efforts are essential, the members of the United Nations committed themselves to a set of measures within four priority areas – governance, prevention, health care, and surveillance and monitoring. These time-bound measures include setting national NCD targets consistent with global targets, developing national NCD multisectoral plans by2015, and starting implementation of those plans by 2016, in order to achieve the national targets.

Source:  WHO GLOBAL STATUS REPORT on non-communicable diseases 2014

Are we trying to implement the plan? If not why? If yes how it was implemented?

Nutrition and weight gain during pregnancy

Maternal nutrition has a great impact on her health and the health, growth and development of her fetus as well as on the well-being of the new born throughout their life

q  Physiology of pregnancy

• There are three major Maternal physiological changes

¢  Growth of adipose tissue, breast, uterine tissues

¢  Increase blood volume

¢  Slower GI motility

These all changes need extra meal with high quality nutrients

¢  The fetus developed in 40 weeks of gestation from the two cells joined at conception into an independent infant with a functioning nervous system, lungs, heart, stomach, and kidneys.

¢  To support this rapid growth and development major changes takes place in the mother’s body.

Under normal conditions the mother’s weight increases by 20 per cent during pregnancy. This corresponds to an average weight gain of 12.5kg

Components of weight gain during pregnancy.

            Fetus, placenta, amniotic fluid   4750gms

            Uterus and breasts                    1300gms

            Blood                                             1250gms

            Water                                              1200gms

            Fat                                                   4000gms

             Total                                                 12500gms

N.B. In developing countries, studies among poor mothers show that many of them gain only about 5 to 7kg during pregnancy.  Why?

Causes for low weight gain during pregnancy

¢  Low food intake

¢  Maternal health

¢  Many women continue to do hard physical activities like carrying wood and water, and do other strenuous jobs until childbirth.

When to start to think about prevention of malnutrition on mother and the new born/ children?

Dear MAAN member  let's discuss on  why recommended weight gain during pregnancy vary across pregnancy?

Recommended Weight Gain in Singleton Pregnancies

Adequate nutrition and weight gain during pregnancy are used for good fetal development, birth outcome and reduce maternal mortality, but it depends on woman’s pre-pregnancy BMI since both maternal under nutrition and over nutrition  affect maternal health and reduce placental fetal blood flows and stunt fetal growth

The following table shows the rate of total weight gain recommended for singleton pregnancies based on a woman’s pre-pregnancy BMI Singleton Pregnancies Recommended Weight Gain in Singleton

Calculations for the recommended weight gain range assume a gain of 0.5 to 2 kg (1.1 to 4.4lbs.) in the first trimester.

 A lower weight gain may be advised for women with a BMI of 35 or greater, based on clinical judgement and a thorough assessment of the risks and benefits to mother and child.

Adapted from Health Canada. Canadian Gestational Weight Gain Recommendations, January 2010.

Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/prenatal/qa-gest-gros-qr-eng.php.

What other reasons are there for the variation of recommended weight gain during pregnancy even across duration/ trimester of pregnancy?

Does the ‘hidden hunger’ affect our Country?

Micronutrient deficiencies in developing and affluent Countries

Micronutrient deficiencies, also known as ‘hidden hunger’, are determining and aggravating factors for health status and quality of life. Three nutritional problems that have serious consequences are deficiencies of iron, vitamin A and iodine. It is estimated that in today’s world, iron deficiency anemia affects two billion people, mostly women and children. Blindness due to vitamin A deficiency affects 2.8 million children under 5 years of age. Iodine deficiency disorders affect 740 million people. Cuba is employing various programs to deal with these micronutrient deficiencies. Dietary diversification, fortification of foods and supplementation with pharmaceutical preparations are included in Cuba’s response to these deficiencies. Urban agriculture is one strategy to increase dietary diversity. The aim is to increase both the availability and consumption of vegetables and fruits.

Food fortification takes many forms in Cuba today and various supplementation programs are carried out. The most common supplemental program in the country is the prenatal program. This program provides four essential nutrients: iron, ascorbic acid, vitamin A and folic acid. At present, iodination covers more than 90% of the total amount of salt used for human consumption.

Results of research carried out in Cuba have shown that vitamin A deficiency is nonexistent in children up to 7 y of age. Foods and preparations for these programs are delivered gratuitously or at very low prices.

Source: - European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2003) 57, Suppl 1, S70–S72. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601820

What do you learn from Cuba’s experience?

How it could be implemented in our context?

How urban agriculture increases dietary diversity?

Dear Abiy

 Good morning as usual thank you for your cooperative i have seen that the list of stake holder but i think it will be good if we include town micro enterprise office because they can support us for our target Group for market linkage they can facilitate  loan etc what do you think?

hanyea from cluster two

I am join in ISD fiat form from Durame town ,dear ISD caniditars plse share ur origanic vegetaton production systems in urban agriculture.In our velage , the most common and only origanic agricultural product is BEE HANNEY so I can share you our exprance  brifiely at next time.10 Q.

In Durame it back for friends and family ended up with us selling the honey. If you are looking for pure raw honey that meets the following criteria then you have come to the right place:

• Honey that is from wild places, away from the pesticides and herbicides you get in honey where the bees get the nectar from crops that have been sprayed or treated with toxins. And away from industry, motorways and other sources of pollution.

• From old style beekeepers who don't use the practices common to 'factory farmed' honey production where antibiotics and conventional medicines are used on the bees (which contaminate the honey)?

• Honey that is minimally processed - just coarse filtered to remove any debris and not heated,which destroys some of the properties and flavour?

• Honey that is higher in the naturally beneficial qualities because it is raw and untreated.

• Pure raw honey - perhaps to buy in bulk with quantity discounts? 

• Honey that is certified organic or produced according to organic principles?

• Honey that can traced back to the beekeeper and area that it came from?

• Unusual monofloral honeys like Oak, Chestnut, Beech, Rosemary, Thyme, Lemon Blossom and more.

If you are looking for all this then try one of the honeys below from one of the small-scale beekeepers - at no risk.

If you don't like it you can return it to us. It's important to note that because this is raw honey it does become solid after a while (unlike pasteurised honey which remains runny or honey in countries with a warm climate).

Dear man plat form members what do you think for this ideas

                                                  የታደለችዉ ወጣት

ወጣትዋ ሁልግሄ ስለ ህይወት አጋጣሚ መማረር ዋነኛ ተግባር አድርጋዋለች ሁለግዜ ስታማርር የሚሰማት የምግብ ቤት አብሳይ አባት ዉሃ በሶስት ድስት ይጥድና

1. በአንደኛዉ በፈላዉ ድስት ዉስጥ ካሮት ይጨምራል
2. በሁለተኛዉ ደስት ዉስጥ እንቁላልይጨምራል
3. በሶስተኛዉ ድስት ዉስጥ የተፈጨ ቡና ይጨምራል

በሶሰተኛ ልጁን በመጥራት ያስገባቸዉን ዕቃዎች ሁሉ ያወጣና ካሮትና እንቁላል ሳሕን ላይ ቡናውን ኩባያ ውስጥ በማስቀመጥ እነዚህን ለውጦች ተመልከች በማለት ይጠይቃታል ፡፡እሷም እንቁላል ቡና ካሮት ነው ያለው ሌላ ምንም የለም ትላለች፡፡ አባትየውም ለመሆኑ አንች የትኛው ነሽ ብሎ ጠየቃት፡፡

      እናንተስ የትኛው ናችሁ ካሮት እንቁላል ወይስ ቡና     ለምን ?

Discussion was held by Lacomelza area MAAN task force

The task force held a discussion on ways forward about MAAN in Dessie. Alex was the chair person who at the end of the discussion, put the task force in a position to work always until the gold is grasped.( The gold is realizing the nutrition sensitive agriculture and intervention in the community; to grasp the gold we always serve the community whether the NMA project is present or absent). And the staff members of ISD Dessie office put valuable inputs from their fund of experience in nutrition and agriculture(Nutrition sensitive agriculture and as well as interventions).I realy like forward my special thanks ISD and its Heros all in head office, Dessie office.This is because all development organizations(ISD), partners(IFOAM) have met in the right truck during their journey to sustainable development.I feel that I am lucky to be part of the real practice of sustainable development.

How many of us have the knowledge and interst of indiginous nutritious foods?

(The foods presented in the food fair in Dessie town, which was held on August 28, 2017)

An oats bread sliced by Gizaw(ISD) and Dr. Fikru Mekonen(Wollo University Agriculture college Dean) in the food fair

Participants of the food fair listening the explanation of the food fair which was done by RSPs of Lacomelza cluster

Participants of the food fair sharing information on the nutrient compositions of the indigious foods presented in the food fair

Participants of the food fair enjoing the tastes of the indiginous local nutritious foods

Participants of the food fair enjoing the tastes of the indiginous local nutritious foods

Participants of the food fair enjoing the tastes of the indiginous local nutritious foods and the cultural blessing cermoney was very much exiciting one

The vegetable sandwitch with teff bread was tasty with pleasnt smell that was calling participants to enjoy its beauty

RSPs of the Lacomelza cluster on duty of the food fair

Dear  Zenebech  Certainly,  you are quite right .I Know some which were forgotten   

I wish 2010 Ethiopian new year ;

• nutritionally Organic production  diversified  for all  
• Healthy soil , man with his environment
• Successful  and sustainable NMA projects
•  Certificate awarded  for all  RSP and celebrate Graduation Ceremony

I wish also to see  good NMA fund to addresses Sustainable Development Goals

•  End poverty in all its forms every where
• End Hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition
• Ensure Healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
• Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Take urgent action to combat the climate change and its impact

 How do you think ------------?

hussenyimamsani, as you said our NMA projects are  contributing some undined efforts for SDG directly and indirectly. i also wish the coming new year to be our right  running  track with tangable achievements .

<<ተልባ ጠጣሁና የተበጠበጠ--አላስቀምጥ አለኝ ሆድ እየቆረጠ>>ይባላል

<<የተበጠበጠ ተልባ ጠጥተሸ---እንደፈረደብሽ በይ ተመላለሽ>>  ተልባ የጠጣች ሴት ቶሎ ቶሎ ወደ ሽንት ቤት ትማላለሳለች በማለት ተልባን እንዳይጠቀሙ  ያደርጋል;;

• ተልባ መመገብ  ለቅስፈት ይዳርጋል ፤የሰውነት አካላትን ያሳብጣል የሚሉም ክፍሎች አሉ
• እንዳንዶቹም ወንዶች ተልባ መመገብ ስንፈተ ወሲብን ያስከትላል በማለት የተሳሳተ አመለካከት ያቀርባሉ፣፣

 10.<<ሽሮን ሲሸውዷት ፕሮቲን ነሽ አሏት>> በማለት ከሽሮ     ምንም ጥቅም እንደማይኝ የተነገረ ዘዬ ነው

ስለዚህ ስለተልባ የምታውቁትን አካፍሉን

ምንጭ ማህበረሰቡ ሲሆን  ያሰባሰበው አዘጋጅ ሁሴን ይማም

Dear Hussin Yemam

     thank you for sharing as we discussed last time to improve the plat form this kind of post will also very important to attract more the user please keep sharing.

Melkam Addis Amet, 2010, to all. And great to see this strong interest and support for Ethiopia's very valuable and nutritious traditional crops! Sue Edwards

During Follow up session in Tita Kbele  , we had a discussion about the whole process of the MI project in the kebele and in what condition are we now?  It was held on the home of one beneficiary . I asked them what real changes have been seen  in their daily eating habit and what should we do to scale up the changes for others.

They said " we loved the trainings provided and it helped us to look back to our indigenous food items "one of the beneficiary Awagu also  said " besides lettuce production i purposely bought hens for the sake of egg consumption for me and my families."  Other beneficiary Zemuye said" in the past those eating  pure Teff as Injera considered as very helpful but now we understood that mixing it with wheat,barely,sorghum and the like  will increase its nutrition value.

They also gave me the following comments;

1. If possible wide spreading the trainings to the whole community about dietary diversity and organic agriculture
2. currently , in most of our relatives ,neighbors homes  and in everywhere feasts ,fabricated Wheat flour is highly  consumed and it weakens the production of Wheat in the farm because almost all of them easily get from  market. So something should be done on this.

The World Food Day 2017 focuses on SDG 2 - Zero Hunger. 

8 Reasons Why Zero Hunger Changes the World

1. Zero hunger could save the lives of 3.1 million children a year
2. Well-nourished mothers have healthier babies with stronger immune systems
3. Ending child undernutrition could increase a developing country's GDP by 16.5 percent
4. A dollar invested in hunger prevention could return between $15 and $139 in benefits
5. Proper nutrition early in life could mean 46 percent more in lifetime earnings
6. Eliminating iron deficiency in a population could boost workplace productivity by 20 percent
7. Ending nutrition-related child mortality could increase a workforce by 9.4 percent
8. Zero hunger can help build a safer, more prosperous world for everyone

Healthy diet to stay as healthy. human health depends on our behavior.

Exactly Niguss, Even look how much percentage longevity depends on our life style? Almost more than half.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that longevity depends on:

–19% genetics

–10% access to health care

–20% environmental factors

–51% lifestyle factors

Dears all Sustainable Development Goals activists, what opportunities have you observed to promote Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture Organically in mass media? Let us keep participating by sharing the current opportunities, since our gold is on the way to be digged out of the deepest layer of the earth!!!

Regards

Zenebech Koricho(RSP), Ethiopia