Mozambique's President of the Republic pleased with World Vision's contribution to nutrition

Thursday, November 21, 2013

The orange-fleshed sweet potato high recommended by World Vision Mozambique (WV-Moz) in the community it operates to boost nutrition level among children, made a lot of success among the visitors to WV-Moz stand during the official launch of the campaign season 2013-2014.

Just like WV-Moz that day, there were more than a dozen of other organizations, all of them organized in a ‘U’ shape exhibiting their contribution to development of agriculture, the main income source for more than 80 per cent of Mozambican people particularly in the communities. 

The campaign was launched in Gaza province, (200 kilometers north Maputo) one of the four provinces WV-Moz operates, and it was addressed by the President of the Republic, Armando Guebuza who demonstrated satisfaction after witnessing in the organization stand, clear contribution in reducing malnutrition among children and guarantee to food security.

The orange-fleshed sweet potato under exhibition in the stand, are produced by a group of farmers, supported by WV-Moz, who compose an association in Chongoene, an ADP funded by Australia. The farmers also residents from the same community use the very same products to prepare enriched meals, which help them guarantee a high nutritional level to their children.

Among the derivates of orange-fleshed sweet potato, farmers demonstrated how they prepare juice which sold out in less than an hour after the president left the organization’s stand.

“It’s a very nice juice, its natural and rich in nutrients because of the orange-fleshed sweet potato. From now on I will purchase the sweet potatoes and learn preparing it from others for consumption for me and my family” said Eládio Tchamo after finishing 500 ml of sweet potatoes’ juice.

The contribution for nutrition wasn´t the only attraction that took the president to spend a minimum time of one minute and half in WV-Moz stand, his attention was also captured by the Saving Group initiative also supported by WV-Moz.

The president was pleased to learn that community members with very limited education degrees were saving over 50 000 US dollars, each group composed by at least 25 members and from that money they were improving living conditions of their households.

“Are the ladies responsible for producing these products also members of the saving initiative? Are they the one saving all that amount of money? Wow! The president was astonished by the results given to him by the ADP manager, Olga Malhaeie who explained him carefully how the initiative operates.

The government in different forums, had expressed its interest to replicate the saving initiative to other areas after confirming its sustainability were WV-Moz operates, particular because of its contribution to strengthen social relations between the group members.

In the campaign WV-Mov demonstrated its support to different farmers’ associations providing improved seeds, facilitating the acquisition of farming tools through the organization of agriculture fairs.

Through the agriculture fairs World Vision gathers companies specialized in selling farming tools, and other related products and bring them close to farmers in the communities to benefit those unable to travel to the main cities to acquire them. (x)