Busia County has launched two policy frameworks to address nutritional challenges and forestall food systems.
The policies, including the Busia County Nutrition Action Plan (CNAP) 2023/2024–2027/2028 and the County Agri-Nutrition Implementation Strategy (CANIS) 2023–2027 were rolled out in a major push to eliminate malnutrition and strengthen food systems across the county.
Speaking during the launch at KALRO Alupe, Busia County CECM for agriculture Simplicius Mukok said that the achievement of good nutrition will be realised through smart agricultural practices that focus on the production of nutritious crops.
Mukok added that the County leadership was investing in value chain crops with high nutrition value.
“In agriculture we produce tonnes of produce but the question remains: is it nutritious? We are more engaged in nutritious value chains like nyota beans, African leafy vegetables, soya beans, and traditional vegetables, among others, which we are going to invest in more,” he said.
Busia County Chief Officer for Health Services and Sanitation Susan Outa termed nutrition as not only a health issue but also a cross-sectoral development priority.
“The second-generation CNAP builds on progress from its predecessor, which saw stunting reduced from 22.2% in 2014 to 15%, expanded vitamin A supplementation, and increased nutrition budgeting.
The challenges have remained underfunding, poor data use, and vulnerability to emergencies like droughts and pandemics,” she said.
Outa added that CNAP II integrates nutrition into maternal and child health, education, agri-nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), and emergency preparedness.
She further said that CANIS complements this by promoting climate-smart agriculture, indigenous food systems, and household kitchen gardens.
“My call to all departments is to align their strategies with these plans because nutrition is everyone’s responsibility. The County Assembly is now tasked with legislating and funding implementation efforts of these frameworks so that its success can be realised,” she said.
Busia County Director of Nutrition Scholastica Navade said that the policy documents will help address many factors related to nutrition and also help the community health promoters to advise the larger population on healthy food.
“This shows our commitment to end malnutrition in our county. Without food, working systems, informing data and proper coordination, it will be difficult to fight malnutrition. These documents promise a future where no children will go to bed hungry and where mothers have knowledge on how to feed their children with a nutritious diet.
Navade emphasised the need for the stakeholders to support the policy implementation process so that the county can achieve all that are envisioned in the documents.
“Nutrition is about equity, dignity and human rights that should be observed to ensure that all children in the county have the same chance to grow as the child from any other part of the country.
We must now move from strategy to action so we can achieve this. Let’s champion nutrition in our budgets and even in the strategies of our supporting partners.
By Salome Alwanda and Cynthia Atieno
