As Ethiopia envisages and is working towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals, diversification and sustainable intensification of agricultural production should be taken as its principal element in hitting all the goals. But besides food security, it has to also intensify and prioritize nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
During a recent media personnel sensitization workshop held in the town of Bishoftu, the Ministry of Agriculture disclosed that the country needs to meet the nutrition security of its massive agrarian population.
Having an economy that is dependent on agriculture, Ethiopia has been striving to ensure food security for its citizens. However, the nutritional security of most of its agrarian population who contribute the largest share of the country’s GDP has not been ensured. The state of undernourishment and stunting has said to be deteriorated at an alarming rate.
Undernourished children are at higher risk of anemia, diarrhea, fever, and respiratory infections. Undernourished children are at a higher risk of dying. These additional cases of illness are costly to the country’s health system and families.
Again, stunted children are at a higher risk of repeating grades/courses and dropping out of school. Grade repetitions are costly to the education system and families. If a child has dropped out of school early and has entered the workforce, he or she may become less productive, particularly in the non-manual labor market.
If engaged in manual labor, he or she is likely to have reduced physical capacity and will tend to be less productive. People who are absent from the workforce as a result of under nutrition-related child mortality represent lost economic productivity, according to the Economic Commission of Africa.
That is why nutrition experts claim the need to address the integration of food and nutrition security through launching nutrition-sensitive agriculture should be taken as the supreme national agenda to best realize the country’s sustainable development goals.
The success of every country mostly starts with ensuring the health of citizens and a healthy lifestyle is about leading a proper nutrition culture and dietary diversity says Dr. Girma Abebe, Senior Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) advisor at the Alive and Thrive Project Ethiopia.
As to him, though Ethiopia has given due emphasis for production and productivity and employment sensitive agriculture over years, nutritional safety and benefit of producers seem to have been failing.
The Ethiopian farmers have been presumably considered as tenants of the time shouldering the duty of producing for the urban minority’s consumption. This might be due to various reasons ranging from economic and structural factors to traditional beliefs and religious norms.
Rural households who are the ultimate producers of all food items in the country are mostly undernourished. Yet, on the other hand, they are the engines of the country’s agriculture. Most notably, mothers and children are primary victims of malnutrition. Thus, the country posterity is endangered of poor physical and intellectual ability resulted from undernourishment, he stated.
MeseretTsegaye, Expert in Food and Nutrition Coordination Office at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) said that his office is working aggressively to avert malnutrition with the involvement of relevant actors in addressing nutrition issue and NSA.
As to him, the Ministry has started to address nutrition issues by formulating policy and establishing the Food and Nutrition Coordination Office. Currently, the government has started interventions like diversification and sustainable intensification of agricultural production. Besides, it is also planning to encourage the media to take nutrition as the prioritized national development agenda.
Fana Minwuyelet, policy and advocacy advisor in the Alive and Thrive Ethiopia tells The Ethiopian Herald that the rate of stunting in Ethiopia has reached 37 percent. Ethiopia loses an estimated 55.5 billion ETB, which is worth 16.5 percent of the country’s GDP annually due to child malnutrition.
Thus, Alive and Thrive will work in collaboration with the government of Ethiopia to achieve the ambitious vision to see all people at all times consume food of sufficient quantity and quality in terms of variety, diversity, nutrient content and safety to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life, coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health and care.
The Ethiopian Herald September 19, 2019
BY LAKACHEW ATINAFU
