Food from gardens: How women in Mozambique are combating chronic malnutrition
Women and children are among those most vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition. This is no different in Mozambique where, according to the FAO Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition, 35% of the population is food insecure.
© FAO / Telcínia dos Santos
Chronic undernutrition levels are particularly critical in northern Mozambique, which is why women in the province of Zambezia are campaigning against this issue.
Rosita Francisco Mocole was chosen to take part in an FAO training and then given the responsibility to share what she learned with her community. She belongs to a farmer group that consists of 12 women in the locality of Namite; twice a week they share their knowledge about nutrition and home gardening.
"We are learning about good nutrition practices and home gardening. We have farms where we produce food for our children. Through these lessons we already know that we all, but especially pregnant women and children, need to have at least 3 different meals per day," she says.
For the home gardening component of the programme, Rosita says that her group of women produce crops such as cabbage, butter beans, tomatoes, sweet potato, onion and garlic. She has also learned how to use manure to fertilize plants.