Photo: Metalign Ayehu giving the presentation.

The HEAL team shared its best practice of Hydroponic Fodder Production to the Nutrition Team of UNICEF on the 15th of March 2023. The presentation addressed the following core points:

  • A Glimpse at VSF-Suisse (with a focus on vision, mission, strategic outcomes, flagship activities and operational areas)
  • Overview of One Health for Humans, Environment, Animals and Livelihood (OH4HEAL)
  • Concept and advantages of Hydroponics
  • Inputs and processes of Hydroponic fodder production
  • Major benefits of Hydroponic fodder from the perspective of the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities
  • Rationale for scaling-up of the technology
  • Enabling conditions for scaling-up the technology.

Mr. Stanley Chitekwe, Chief of Nutrition Section, UNICEF, appreciated our journey so far and underscored the need to take this forward and says “The work you did speaks volumes about the extra miles you travelled to save livestock; and we as a nutrition folk see what you did from the perspective of ensuring food availability at household level by sustaining milk and egg production, implying that we are working for the same goal!”. Mr. Stanley took the initiative to get back to us for a follow-on meeting to discuss on the potential for partnership and linkages to Multi-Sector Nutrition Platform.

Here is the link to the recording of the presentation.

Contributed by:

Metalign Ayehu

HEAL Regional MEAL Lead