Civil Society proposes agriculture policy reform to curb malnutrition in Zambia

On 13 January 2016, Civil Society Organisations Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance (CSO-SUN) in collaboration with the Center for Trade, Policy and Development (CTPD) made a joint submission to the Zambia Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture to reform the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). The submission called for the Government of Zambia to make the FISP more responsive to the nutrition requirements of the country.

“It is important to realise the emphasis placed on the various sources of nutrients in the Zambian diet.” – Eneya Phiri, Head of Advocacy and Communications, CSO-SUN

According to CSO-SUN, the current re-distributive structure of the FISP is over focused on maize, leading to an imbalanced intake of nutrients. The submission proposes ways in which the FISP can be reformed, including the promotion and diversification of locally produced nutrient rich crops and livestock production incentives.

Learn more about the event at The Post Zambia, Mwebantu and the Lusaka Times