Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has asked community members in Kasungu District to embrace best agriculture and nutrition practices.

Speaking on Monday during a road show on best agriculture and nutrition practices, FAO district nutritionist Haswell Mlenga emphasised the need to champion behaviour and mindset change among communities to adopt best agriculture and nutrition practices implemented under Afikepo Programme.

He said: “We will ensure that the interventions we have been promoting under Afikepo Programme are sustained. The roadshows will help to influence behaviour change among communities to embrace best nutrition practices, such as eating six food groups.

“We want families to become self-reliant and establish backyard gardens as required and taught during Afikepo programme implementation.”

Mlenga said the programme has addressed malnutrition and stunted growth in the district.

“Going forward, we will rely on the district structures, including village nutrition committees to continue tracking the programme’s progress,” he said.

One of the programme beneficiaries, Joyce Msakambewa, said they will sustain the principles they learned under the programme.

“We learned to grow diversified crops and keep animals to increase food resources. We also learned how to prepare nutritious food using locally available resources to beat stunting,” she said.

Msakambewa urged breastfeeding mothers to continue eating nutritious food for their children to be healthy.

Afikepo project, which is phasing out this year, seeks to accelerate knowledge transfer and adoption of recommended maternal, infant and child nutrition and nutrition sensitive agricultural practices among individual groups.

The project also promotes hygiene practices in communities such as construction of toilets to end open defaecation.

The project is being implemented in 10 districts, including Kasungu with funding from the European Union through Unicef, FAO and Malawi Government.

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