MORINGA OLIEFERA
The problem of stunting is
greatest in sub- Saharan Africa in places where the Moringa Oliefera
tree does well. Our company has taken this challenge very seriously and
has ( with our partner Chuo Cha Elimu Kwa Wote ) started training
communities in seven regions of mainland Tanzania ie Arusha,
Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Morogoro, Mbeya, Coast and Dar es Salaam on the
benefits of Moringa Oliefera leaf powder. We strongly believe that if we
change the eating habits of these communities and in turn they teach
others on these benefits in the next 5 to 10 years , we shall be able
to bring down the problem of stunted growth in Tanzania by over 50%.
We have a weekly radio program on Radio Sauti ya Injili in Moshi, which has a coverage in most of the above regions.
We have so far organized training seminars and trained over 5000 participants in all regions in a span of one year.
Wholesale demand for organic foods is on
the increase in the world today. Herbal supplements and skin care
products are regarded. Highly and demand for these products is on a
steady rise/. Moringa Oliefera is a tree that has numerous nutrients
and anti-oxidants that can change the health and well being of many
African children who suffer from stunted growth, malnutrition and under
nutrition.
SOCIAL PROBLEM
SOCIAL PROBLEM; STUNTING/STUNTED GROWTH IN CHILDREN
Stunted growth or height for age traps
people into lifelong cycle of poor nutrition, illness, poverty and
inequality, the damage to physical and cognitive development especially
during the first two years of a child’s life is largely irreversible.
The number of stunted children under the age of 5 years in the world has
fallen by 88 million from 40-26% or a 1/3 reduction, however a new
lancet article on nutrition from 6th June 2013 shows that progress is
not fast enough, so what is needed now is a strong, global commitment
and leadership to accelerate the efforts.
Taking action on under nutrition is the
single most important and cost effective means of advancing human well
being , thus would accelerate the achievements of the millennium
development goals, save lives and should be a top global priority.
Stunting starts before birth and is caused by poor maternal nutrition,
poor feeding practices, poor quality feeding as well as frequent
infection which can slow down growth.
Deficiencies of Vitamin A and Zinc
results in deaths while deficiencies of iron and iodine, together with
stunting can contribute to children not reaching their development
potential. Maternal under nutrition contributes to festal growth
restrictions, which increases the risk of neonatal deaths and for
survivors of stunting by 2 years of life. The WHO estimates that under
nutrition in the aggregate including festal growth restrictions, death
for stunting, wasting and deficiency of vitamin A, Zinc etc. Was the
cause of 3.1 million children deaths in 2011. East Africa and
particularly Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya are featured in the 34
countries that have 90% of the world’s children with stunted growth.
Tanzania ranks no 3 in Africa of leading
countries with stunted growth, after Congo DRC and Ethiopian in that
order. The other two countries unlike Tanzania are countries where war
is occasional in the case of Ethiopia, drought, caused by lack of
adequate rainfall is prevalent.
Our research shows that lack of
knowledge and poor feeding habits are major courses of this otherwise
avoidable situation. Unlike neighboring Kenya where nutrition education
is taught as a subject from certificate to Diploma and degree levels
most health facilities in Tanzania do not have nutritional staff due to
lack of training facilities especially certificate and diploma, Sokoine
University is the only institution offering nutrition at degree level.
Although the government has of late
added nutrition in the A level curriculum it is yet to achieve the
desired objectives, as many students have not yet embarrassed nutrition
as a career as they have done with medicine and other subjects in the
health sector.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Our company has developed an
Agricultural division that is organizing farmers to produce Moringa
Oliefera for their own house hold consumption and the surplus to be sold
to the company for processing and value addition.
The farmers will also cultivate pumpkins
and sweet potatoes with vitamin A( ie viazi lishe )alongside other
food and commercial plants. The company has formulated products using
the above three as raw materials to develop nutritional suppments’ for
local and international markets. The company is organizing the farmers
into groups of 5 farmers each, who are in the same neighborhood for ease
of information dissemination. They are further placed into a larger
group of 40 farmers and an even larger group of 200 farmers forming a
division or Kata. We expect to have 100 katas or 20,000 farmers at the
end of December 2014.
