Zambia Turns to Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture

The state of food and nutrition security has come into constant focus as the agricultural sector continues to confront the reality of climate change. In Zambia, stunting in children under the age of five years now stands at 35% according to the 2018 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS). Though this indicates a reduction from the 40% recorded in the 2013/2014 ZDHS, poor nutrition still remains a challenge that seriously needs to be addressed.

Among the various strategies that the government is implementing to overcome the problem, nutrition-sensitive agriculture is one strategy that is being undertaken through the Ministries of Agriculture and; Fisheries and Livestock, respectively. By using extensions workers, the government is reaching out to vulnerable communities who also happen to be farming communities and educating them on good nutrition practices staring with their agricultural practices.

Nutrition-sensitive agriculture aims to address the real underlying causes of malnutrition through three avenues namely: food production, income generation and women empowerment.

Government’s nutrition-led objectives in the agricultural sector are being supplemented by the Performance Enhancement Program (PEP) II – a program whose overall objective is to support the Zambian government’s objective to reduce rural poverty and; enhance food and nutrition security.