Addressing Malnutrition Through Vegetable Growing
Blog | 20/04/23
Started, with the aim of improving household nutrition, incomes, and standards of living, the SIDA funded vegetable growing project (Bwindi Community Nutrition and Nursery Demonstration) in Buhoma is doing well and beyond.
According to the group head Warren Babyebuza, all the 500 members of the group have benefited in multiple ways while over 400 other people from the community (non-group members) have also received vegetable seedlings, sheep, and capacity building on how to start and maintain kitchen gardens. “Through this project, we have witnessed a complete shift in mindset when it comes to nutrition. In the past, park-edge communities demeaned vegetables and thought of them as food for livestock and the poor, but today almost every homestead in Buhoma has a kitchen garden with vegetables. All our beneficiaries testify to improved incomes and nutrition, especially among the children.”
From the vegetable sales, several members have been able to easily pay school fees for their children, access better medical care, start-up small business, buy land and build houses among others.
Commenting on the contribution of the project Mr. Nelson Kagurusi, In-charge of nutrition at Bwindi Community Hospital says, “Although the percentage is not clear, we have seen a tremendous decline in malnutrition among children below 2 years of age especially in villages where this project operates.” “We are also grateful to the group for their generosity in donating vegetables to pregnant women who come for antenatal care at the hospital,” Nelson adds. Since 2018, the group has received about $6,947 from IGCP to boost the vegetable growing project.
