Manica Governor's wife, Mrs. Ana Mimosa Mucumbe

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Tuesday and Wednesday held a provincial workshop in Manica to share experiences, lessons learnt and best practices in nutrition education gained within the Sub-programme "Accelerate Progress towards MDG 1c in Mozambique". The event is part of a series of workshops within the exit strategy of the MDG1c Sub-programme, which is financed by the European Union and implemented by FAO in support of the Government of Mozambique.

"Based on the experiences of each of the partners", Manica Governor's wife, Mrs. Ana Mimosa Mucumbe, said at the opening of the event, "we will do our best to follow-up on the joint efforts towards improving the nutritional status of our communities".

In order to guarantee the sustainability of the interventions in nutrition education in the province after the Sub-programme comes to an end next June, the partners agreed that the activities will be taken up by the provincial directorates of agriculture and food security as well as health.

Talking at the opening of the workshop, too, MDG1c's coordinator in Beira corridor, Roide Tores, recalled that "only through interventions promoting the access to diversified food, effective social and behaviour change and good nutrition, hygiene and health practices can we achieve a world without hunger". The goal of MDG1c's component of nutrition education with home gardens, Tores proceeded, has been to diversify the diet of the communities, in particular women's and children's, and enhance their knowledge of good nutrition practices, contributing to the reduction of chronic malnutrition, in alignment with the Government's policies.

Since the beginning of its implementation in 2013, key-interventions of the MDG1c Sub-programme have included:

(i) the promotion of seed production by small farmers, (ii) better access to improved agricultural inputs by subsistence and emerging farmers through input subsidies (e-voucher), (iii) improved access to agricultural extension services through the consolidation and expansion of the Farmer Field School (FFS) methodology, (iv) post-harvest handling to reduce losses with the construction of improved silos (Gorongosa type), (v) improved coverage of chickens vaccination against Newcastle disease to foster animal protein consumption, and (vi) the promotion of nutrition education with home gardens, in particular for women and children.

After gathering representatives of Manica Provincial Government, community based organizations and other partners in Chimoio on Tuesday, the participants on Wednesday visited the District of Sussundenga, one of the three beneficiaries (besides Manica and Gondola) of the nutrition education component of MDG1c. The Sub-programme´s activities have also covered the provinces of Sofala, Tete, Zambézia, and Nampula.