The Zambia Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition Alliance has advised Zambians to develop interest in the consumption of fish in order to improve their nutrition levels.
Alliance Head of Advocacy and Communications Eneya Phiri says it is unfortunate that despite Zambia being blessed with abundant fish, people are still not consuming the commodity.
Mr. Phiri said while it was good for people to receive an income from the fish, it was also important for them to spare some for consumption.
He was speaking during a fish consumption awareness event in Siavonga recently.
The CSO-SUN has been between March 24 2016 and April 2 2016 conducting awareness campaigns in Chongwe and Siavonga districts on eating fish, especially small whole dried fish and disseminating information on the different ways to cook and store fish.
The campaigns were supported by SMARTfish through NFDS consultancy.
Mr. Phiri said CSO-SUN was concerned about the levels of malnutrition which he said are exceedingly high.
“It is unfortunate that in spite of being blessed with massive natural resources like Kariba with abundant fish, people in Zambia are still not consuming this precious commodity. In Siavonga, you find that it is one of the main sources of income of the local fishermen. While we are happy that people are receiving an income from the fish, we would very much want to see a situation where they also spare some fish for consumption,” Mr. Phiri said.
“Not everything needs to be sold. We need to spare some fish to feed our homes. It is irresponsible to continue suffering from forms of malnutrition such as micronutrient deficiencies when we have an abundance of fish from which we can access these required nutrients.”
“Current national statistics show stunting (in children under the age of 5) to be at 40 per cent or 1.2 million children, wasting at 6 per cent, and high levels of combination of micronutrient deficiencies, 53 per cent of school-aged children are deficient in vitamin a while 46 per cent have iron deficiency. Recently, obesity rates have also been on the rise and are currently at 23 per cent in women alone,” Mr. Phiri noted.
He said this has severe negative consequences for the people of Zambia and ultimately the economic and political strength of the country will be compromised.
“Stunted children will contribute less to their communities and will eventually earn less as adults. In essence, malnutrition devalues human capital. This is why we have been urging all stakeholders to do what is right to curb malnutrition in Zambia,” he said.
Mr Phiri added, “One way in which we can begin to address malnutrition is to diversify our diets. We have been in Siavonga and Chongwe for the past few days conducting awareness campaigns in the communities on the need for people include fish, particularly small fish or Kapenta, in their diets to improve their nutritional status.”
Mr. Phiri said fish was one of the most nutritious foods that is locally available especially in lake districts such as Siavonga.
He said fish contained several nutrients such as proteins, omega 3 fatty acids and vitamins all of which are very good for body and brain development.
Mr. Phiri said fish was especially good for the women, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding women as its benefits directly go to the developing foetus.
“This is why the theme of the campaigns has been rightly named ‘a little fish goes a long way’ because we know the long term benefits of consuming fish. We wish to echo the words of President Edgar Lungu who lamented in August last year that it is criminal for Zambians to import nearly 45,000 tons of fish when we have plenty water bodies from which we can produce and consume our own indigenous fish,” Mr. Phiri said.
He thanked SMARTfish and NFDS consultancy for their support in running the campaigns successfully in Chongwe and Siavonga. We urge all stakeholders to take keen interest in the health and cost benefits of fish so that together we can have healthy, vibrant nation,” said Mr. Phiri.
And Siavonga District Fisheries Officer Mebelo Wamulume said the government was committed to improving the nutrition status of the citizens.
“Young people need to consume fish day in and day out. The government of Zambia is currently repealing the National Nutrition Commission Act to align it with current fish demands.
Currently, we seem to be importing a lot of fish from China and yet we are endowed with vast water bodies which can help us improve the supply of fish within the country and the neighbouring countries,” Mr. Wamulume said.
Meanwhile, Lakeshore Hope and Relief Zambia Programme Officer Twaambo Mufalo said his organization would continue to promote the consumption of fish in Zambia.
It is hard to believe that fishermen do not spare some of their catch for own consumption.
It will also be helpful to get the statistics on the percentage of fishermen who prefer to put all their catch on the shelf and nothing on the plate. Data please
Go to Luapula & see the disadvantage of eating too much fless-fiss.
99.99999% of blind pipo are from Luapula.
Ichindike yewe.
Fish has nothing to do with blindness. You are using the wrong variable. In the tropics River blindness which is the main cause of blindness in Luapula is caused by filaria
Too expensive. Ukansitila?
Most of the tilapia we consume today is farm-bred instead of wild. The thing is that while wild tilapia eats lake plants and algae.
There have been numerous reports that farm-bred tilapia from China are fed with animal feces, and thus can increase your risk of cancer 10 times more than fish caught in the wild. According to these reports, farmed fish are fed with feces from ducks, chicken and pigs.