Dear Moderator,
My name is Veronica Kirogo from Kenya and I am working at the State Ministry of Agrciulture, Livestock and Fisheries.
In the past couple of decades there has been a lot of emphasis on nutrition-specific interventions in addressing malnutrition, yet only limited impact has been realized as evidenced by the prevalence of stunting in Kenya which stands at 26 percent. Similarly, the focus on increasing productivity, commercialization and competitiveness of agricultural commodities has not resulted in improvement of food and nutrition security in Kenya particularly at household level. However, there are some interventions either by the government or partners that may have resulted in improved nutrition and food security, but with limited opportunities for sharing of experiences, lessons learnt or best practices, replication of these success stories is difficult.
My expectation for the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is the need to focus on documentation and dissemination of successful food and nutrition security interventions for replication. There is also need for a standardized tool for advocating for increased budgetary allocation on the food and nutrition security sector. Seventy five percent of the Kenyan population is youth; therefore food and nutrition security programmes that specifically target this category should be formulated as they have the potential for feeding the future. The use of mobile telephone technology in dissemination of food and nutrition messages would ensure wide coverage since the majority of Kenyans have mobile phones.
Developing countries should be encouraged to establish or strengthen a food and nutrition security council in order to harmonize coordination, funds mobilization and implementation of programmes, prioritize activities and pool resources. The activities would be funded jointly by the government, partners and private sector. There is a need to focus more on nutrition-sensitive technologies since they are sustainable and more often homegrown solutions.
Mme Veronica Kirogo