Nutrition plays a important role in a child’s growth and development.
Malnutrition, starvation, wasting, malnourishment, stunting, undernutrition … these are all terms that describe the impact of not having enough food, not having enough of the right foods or even, in the case of obesity, having too much of the wrong foods.
The World Health Organisation says 45 per cent of deaths among children under the age of five in low and middle-income countries can be directly linked to undernutrition; a lack of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
This may be caused by a diet poor in nutrition, with only a limited variety of food products available. It may be a direct result of food shortages – such as when crops fail due to extreme weather events, the terrible consequences of which unfolded in Africa in 2017.
Unsafe or contaminated water sources, which result in diarrhoea, can cause young children to lose weight rapidly, potentially leading to extreme malnourishment and death.
Undernourished mothers are also more likely to give birth to babies who are underweight, which can result in an intergenerational cycle of undernutrition.
Nhung recalls the constant struggle of trying to raise a family-of-six on a small farm with an unreliable water source.
“We could grow only one rice crop per year on half of the land while the other half was used to grow soy bean or maize as we did not have any water,” she says. “Everything depends much on the conditions in the area.”
Nhung says it was a constant struggle to provide enough money to send her two oldest children to school.
“I do not remember a time we had any money left over and each time my oldest baby got sick the whole family had to ask for help from friends and relatives,” she says.
Things got better when they participated in farming models supported by ChildFund and the local government.
“Households in the villages now combine all the land we have in one area and by doing that we have more resources,” she says. “ChildFund supported us by building four concrete canals which provide enough water for the whole fields to grow two crops per year. Not only our family but many other families are still benefiting from these canals.”
Over the years, Nhung and her husband have expanded their farm and used savings to invest in a harvesting business that services local farms.
“We make use of the rice and corn powder from our harvesting services to raise chickens and pigs in the backyard,” Nhung says. “They provide not only food for my children but also extra income for the surrounding families. I am so happy that we saw the opportunities and decided to invest in this business.”
A keen learner, Nhung also studied modern farming techniques to improve her land’s productivity.
“We used to use a lot of fertiliser in our farming but now, but we have used more efficient techniques to cut down the amount of fertiliser we use. Also, working with agriculture staff taught us about new seeds which have proved successful.”
The 3.5km canal provides water for 86 hectares of farmland, benefiting more than 500 households.
