The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations has donated supplementary food, locally known as turn-brown to 1,000 under-five children in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
Speaking during the distribution exercise on Tuesday, the focal person for FAO flood relief response, Ahmed Muhammed, said the initiative is part of efforts to help parents affected by the recent flooding with supplementary food for their children.
“This distribution exercise is a continuation of FAO’s effort towards supporting flood-affected victims. We are here today in a community called Goni-Gamdari behind railway quarters in Maiduguri because the community was badly affected by the September 10th flood.
“In continuation with FAO support, we are here to assist 1,000 under-five children with supplementary food known as turn-brown,” he said.
According to him, this supplementary food is a locally made product and can prevent malnutrition.
“During the flooding, many households were displaced, and many food items were destroyed. So because many families can no longer cater to their immediate needs, we are supporting them with 12,000 packs of turn brown, to which each household is entitled to 12 packs. We believe it will help their children to have a balanced diet that they need to grow,” he said.
One of the community leaders, Abu Wakil, who noted that the flood affected 85 per cent of the area, applauded the FAO for finding the area worthy of benefiting from the initiative.
“We are glad to have this. It means a lot to us considering what we suffered recently,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Monica Kefas, commended the organisation while stating that the food will assist their children’s health.
“Following that flooding, eating has sometimes become difficult. Even if we continue to bear, what about our children? So we thank FAO for this and every other support they are rendering for victims of the disaster,” she said.