KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — The community farming programme needs to be expanded in local communities in urban areas to address malnutrition among children living in these areas, said the Prime Minister’s wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
This is necessary considering the percentage of children experiencing growth problems or stunting in the country, including in urban areas, is relatively high due to nutritional deficiencies.
“Therefore, I have proposed to the Prime Minister’s Political Secretary Datuk Azman Abidin to establish community farming in the Bandar Tun Razak Parliamentary constituency to help address this issue by identifying any land that can be cultivated to grow vegetables, like cucumbers or ladies fingers, which are easy to cultivate.
“However, we also need to consider management because there needs to be a responsible body as we do not want the project to be just a flash in the pan,” she told the press after officiating the Urban Community Feeding Centre at the Desa Tun Razak People’s Housing Project (PPR) today.
Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the Bandar Tun Razak MP, said in Kuala Lumpur, the Community Feeding Programme has been ongoing since December 2022 and is still continuing today, involving 56 children.
“Desa Tun Razak PPR was chosen as the location for implementing this programme because it is one of the study centres by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) in 2018.
“This intervention programme is a feeding programme targeting children aged one to six from urban poor families by providing supplementary food (five times a week) as an assurance of nutritious food availability,” she said.
Meanwhile, Dr Wan Azizah said all planned and implemented government initiatives should involve parents, families, communities, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations, so Malaysia’s aspiration to improve the well-being and health of children can succeed.
— Bernama
