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The project wants to promote fruit tree growing and harness their potential to improve nutrition through accessibility of nutrient rich fruits for households.
Hidden hunger is a prevalent, visible and significant public health challenge in Uganda, taking a serious toll on the health and economic development of the nation’s population.
Deficits of micronutrients (vitamins and microelements) are one of the main causes of child and maternal morbidity and mortality.
The 2016 Demographic and healthy survey indicates that 29% of the children under-five in Uganda are stunted (low height-for-age) a result of chronic nutritional deficiency starting before birth if the mother’s diet is micronutrient deficient
53% of Ugandan children ages 6-59 months and 32% of women population of age 15-49 were anaemic , a major concern that leads to increased maternal and child mortality and poor birth outcomes. The survey further said, only 15% of all Uganda’s children ate a minimum accepted diet, which is an alarming situation.
This typically permanent condition increases susceptibility to infection and reduces lifelong potential, with far-reaching economic consequences for the country.
Malnutrition is expensive to treat for instance acute malnutrition costs more than US$ 120 per child, something Uganda’s poor population cannot afford. Malnutrition affects education, intellectual potential of schoolchildren. Stunting causes children to start school late because they look too small for their age, causes absenteeism and repetitions of school years. Multiple interrelated factors cause malnutrition, poverty, poor health and limited dietary diversity. However, the final common pathway for all these causes is that nutrient intake fails to meet nutrient requirements.
However, food trees (trees providing edible fruits, vegetables, seeds/ nuts and edible oils) when integrated as part of the agroforestry systems, have huge potential to provide a wide variety of foods and can contribute substantially to food and nutrition security to the affected populations. Food trees presents a rich nutrient source from local ecosystems, and have traditionally been used to complement and diversify the typical staple based diets for some communities/ consumers thus preventing nutrient deficiencies and contributing to better health.
To generate sound evidence and proof of application, this project plans to employ the use of nutrition-sensitive agroforestry research for development approaches and tools during the implementation of planned activities and interventions The project targets to work with smallholders and other resource poor families, especially young women, mothers and children, with the aim of diversifying their highly energy-based and monotonous staple diets, improve livelihoods through diversification of agricultural production and enhancing landscape resilience against climate change through adoption of agroforestry practices.
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Short URL to this project:
http://otlas-project.salto-youth.net/13365