By Emily Kaliwo
District Coordinator for Investing in Early Year Programme (IEYP) for Chiradzulu, Friday Kalaundi, has expressed concern over the low rate of survival of chickens that were distributed to programme beneficiaries, saying this was a setback to nutrition goals.
Kalaundi made the remarks on Monday during the presentation of a quarterly progress report for July – September 2023/24 financial year to District Nutrition Coordinating Committee (DNCC) in Chiradzulu.
He said that the chickens were distributed to households with children that were in Community Based Childcare Centres (CBCCs), as a way of improving their nutrition status.
\”We distributed 6,000 small stocks to 600 beneficiaries but only 3,000 survived due to diseases that attacked them,\” he said, adding that there was need to involve key players to ensure survival of chickens.
He said transport problem is one of the challenges the programme faced, saying there is only a single vehicle which also serves other programmes, such as Social Cash Transfer Programme, popularly known as Mtukula pakhomo, and Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme.
Kalaundi added that this negatively affected IEYP programme as supervision and provision of veterinary services to the distributed chickens became difficulty.
“Apart from transport challenges, high prices of commodities due to devaluation of kwacha affected completion of CBCCs construction,” he said, adding that the programme however handed over 15 CBCCs to communities.
\”We also ensured that play facilities and learning materials in all CBCCs were maintained and distributed for effective early child development,” he said.
In his remarks, Fisheries Officer for Chiradzulu, Benjamin Somanje, said there are also successes in agriculture sector on Integrated Homestead Farming (IHF) under the IEYP, saying most households with children in the CBCC adopted IHF for improved nutrition.
He therefore recommended that the winter cropping should be promoted in the district so that households should be nutrition and food secure all year round.
In her remarks, Principal Nutrition HIV and AIDs Officer for Chiradzulu, Loveness Chikumba, commended the hard work spirit among DNCC members, as this was observed during the construction and completion of the 15 CBCCs, adding that this was a right move towards child development.
