By Maricho Reporter
Zimbabwe is facing an increase in incidences of overweight and obesity and the associated dietetic diseases, particularly among urban populations and there is need to promote healthy eating and dietary diversification to incorporate nutrient-dense food sources, said Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka.
Dr Masuka was addressing the Third Stage Food Systems Pre-Summit.
“Evidence is increasingly showing that much of our traditional food sources and food processing methods such as fermenting foods, are actually much healthier. After age, obesity has been shown to be the second most important predictor of Covid-19 mortality. The urban young population now shuns traditional foods. These healthy foods should be publicised and promoted. Morden and efficient technologies to harvest and process them should be introduced,” said Dr Masuka.
The third stage dialogue, the final at national level ran under the theme: “Transforming Production and Food Systems in Zimbabwe”, as a countdown to main UN Food Systems Summit to be held in September 2021.
“There is need to shift away from maize monoculture, and to diversify to traditional grains such as sorghum and millets that are already more resilient to climate change. These have been shown to contain less simple sugars than maize, and are healthier. Government is encouraging farmers to diversify into these traditional grains and pays an incentive price to promote their production,” said Dr Masuka.
Zimbabwe’s agricultural system is largely rain-fed (>97%) which leaves it very vulnerable to climate change and variability. More investments in dam construction and irrigation infrastructure will help to climate-proof the food production system, thereby reducing shocks induced by the vagaries of weather.
Maria Ribeiro, United Nations Resident Coordinator said through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022-2026, the collective efforts of the UN and partners seek to contribute to the transformation of food systems across the various spectrums. This includes promoting nature positive agricultural production; adopting climate change mitigation and adaptation measures; making food systems more inclusive, equitable and responsive to threats and crisis.
“But it also means investing in economic transformation and opportunities for young people and women in rural and urban economies; investing in robust and supportive health and educational services as well as supporting Government to invest in social protection initiatives that enhance people’s livelihoods and increase prosperity, especially for children, young people and those most vulnerable,’ said Ribeiro.
“The UN encourages the Government and all stakeholders to work together and ensure broad multi-sectoral collaboration, engaging in particular, disadvantaged groups such as women and youth, towards stable, equitable, climate and environmentally smart food systems that promote access to and utilization of nutritious food for all Zimbabweans.”
Dr Masuka added that losses through food waste and post-harvest storage spoilage are quite a substantial leakage in the
“Food Systems as they account for up to 35% of production. The post-harvest spoilages negatively affect food safety, as infested food is less nutritious, exposes farmers to risk of infections and disease burden. Further, farmer incomes are lost through lower prices at markets. There is need to improve storage facilities across the value chain to secure and preserve nutritional quality of the crops harvested.”
“Digitalisation of agriculture has a big potential to improve efficiencies in the food systems. Big data can be used for evidence based policymaking, market intelligence, real time climate information, and precision farming. My Ministry is already advocating for ICT based methods for transforming value chains, and this includes the collection and dissemination of vital agricultural statistics and information to stakeholders.”
“There is need to promote diversified crop and livestock production through, “Nutrition sensitive Agriculture”, to improve availability and access to nutritious foods. Furthermore, the underutilisation of neglected and underutilised species and many nutritious traditional and indigenous foods has to be overcome,” according to Dr Masuka.
