Kabarole’s Nutrition Deficiency Levels Rises As Households Embrace Hivo’s Food Lab

BY OUR  REPORTER

KABAROLE, Uganda: Uganda’s destined Tourism City, Fort portal is on the mark for having the highest number of malnourished and stunted children.

The growth in the urban population has brought in place new food systems that has also led to increased cases of malnutrition.

A study conducted by the Kabarole district authorities in 2009 revealed that 70% of the children were stunted and many families were grappling with malnutrition.

Of the 70%, majority were aged six and below. There was micro-nutrient deficiency among children with 40% under five years lacking vitamin A while 40% of women between the ages of 15 and 50 were anemic

The study established that families in Kabarole have not been sensitized and encouraged to feed their children on nutritious foods with most households especially those in rural areas not having the knowledge between nutritious foods and any other food they consume.

The sad aspect is that much as Kabarole is a food basket, most of what is grown find its way in either Uganda’s capital Kampala, or in neighboring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Kabarole is a hub for various food varieties such as bananas, fresh beans, cowpeas, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, soya beans, and maize among others.

Kabarole district chairperson Mr. Richard Rwabuhinga said most of the families despite selling eggs, would instead feed their children on “junk’ food sold in streets such as chapattis and pan cakes.

Rwabuhinga said things are beginning to change after efforts by KRC through support from Hivos East Africa took the initiative to sensitize pregnant women on importance of nutrition.

“Most families are now feeding their children on the nutritious foods before they are taken to the markets for sale,” he said.
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Hivos patterned with Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC) to address the challenge. The three organized the People’s Summit on Food that brought on board farmers, politicians, civil society, street vendors, and nutritionists.

The People’s Summit on Food is part of Hivos’ Sustainable Diets for All (2016-2020) global advocacy programme implemented by Hivos in partnership with IIED. It seeks to influence policy and practices of markets, government actors, and international institutions through citizen action for the promotion of sustainable diets.

Conversations at the Food Summit focused on how to change the region’s food system to more affordable and nutritious foods.

The summit was told that rural households do not know about good diets, one reason why stunting levels are high among the children.

Kabarole district leaders were urged to have policies in place to ensure that food systems are in place so as to avert food scarcity.

KRC and Kabarole District council then teamed up to amend the ‘Production, Natural Resources and Marketing Ordinance 2006’ with the aim of increasing production of commercial food products.

According to Mr. Shariff Muhammed, the KRC coordinator, the project has since identified a need for better data on local diets, regional food imports, and exports, as well as farming practices. The goal for Sustainable Diets For All Programme is Sustainable, Healthy, and affordable food available for all in particular for low income rural and urban consumers.

The KRC designed the Fort portal food change lab. The Fort portal food change lab is a space for various stakeholders to convene and explore complexities surrounding food access for the growing urban population and the drivers of a sustainable transition into city status as projected in the Uganda vision 2040.

Ms. Beatrice Basemera aged 43 is a street food vendor with a food stall in Kisenyi along Bwamaba Road. In 2017 she was identified to participate in KRC’s food lab project that brought together (street food vendors) with an aim of improving their business skills, working environment, and relations with municipal council authorities.  “This initiative came at a time when food vending was nearly regarded as an illegal business and yet Fort Port Municipal council authorities were collecting revenue from the same,” said Basemera.

Basemera says that with KRC’s initiative she benefited by being trained on best practices of preparing local indigenous foods such as Ferinda, Unpeeled Yams, sweet potatoes, in respect to the Tooro Tradition and good hygiene, as a way of improving our existing cooking styles/ standards. “When I adopted the above practices, for example, use of banana leaves in packing and serving meals contrary to use of polythens, the demand for such dishes comprised of indigenous foods attracted more customers making the demand high and hence increase in my sales that boosted my income and enabled me to meet my day today expenses,” she said in an interview.

As a food vendor Basemera stopped frying her food with cooking oil. “After understanding the health risks associated with frying, I instead focused on un-fried meals since I needed to attract more customers basing on diseases free foods and the use of food as medicine.”

“As a vendor I also received a uniform from KRC that made me more visible and easily identified by my clients and the local authorities, KRC also linked us to the local authorities for recognition of vending as a key service that is not aimed at profit-making but also good for ending malnutrition in both children and adults in Kabarole District,” she said.

She explained that in response, the municipal health office and Kabarole district leadership agreed to work with them by carrying out joint health checks and promised to gazette food vending spaces.

“The authorities further committed to create awareness about the importance of local indigenous foods in ending malnutrition to community/grass root levels,” she said.