Fortified flour is being used in Madagascar to combat widespread child malnutrition, which affects four out of 10 children on the island. Known as "Koba Aina", the flour is made into a nutritious porridge that is sold door-to-door at affordable prices to vulnerable families.
A Malagasy business has been developing the porridge, prepared daily by local vendors, to avoid the irreversible cognitive and physical damage that malnutrition causes during the first 1,000 days of a child's life.
In the heart of a poor neighbourhood in Madagascar’s capital, the familiar sound of a woman’s voice rings out at 6:30am: “Koba Aina-oooooo!” In Malagasy, that translates to “flour of life”.
Six days a week, Tantely walks the streets carrying two five-kilogram thermoses of porridge. “It makes me happy to feed children. It’s a bit like they’re my own,” she says.
Dozens of children run to her, holding metal bowls and spoons, eager for their breakfast. Tantely hands out portions in exchange for 500 ariary, or about 9 euro cents.
“My job is to mix all the ingredients: peanuts, maize, rice, soy, sugar, minerals, calcium, vitamins and iron,” says Tantely. It takes about 45 minutes to cook.
“Then I leave home at 6:15am so I can sell to workers and children before they head to school.”
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'It keeps us full'
For many of her customers, this is the only nutritious meal they will eat all day.
Suzanne has been waiting barefoot with her grandson.
“We’ve been eating this for nine years,” she says. “It saves cooking ... and most importantly, it keeps us full until noon.”
Another local, Hasina, waits at her door each day for the seller to pass. Koba Aina has become part of her morning routine.
“The only time we don’t eat it is when the seller doesn’t pass by,” she says.
Changing the eating habits of these communities, however, wasn't easy. It took at least five years for sellers like Tantely to convince families to switch from their traditional rice soup to Koba Aina.
Through persistent awareness-raising, Tantley was able to break down misconceptions about the supposed nutritional benefits of rice soup.
Now, some 42,000 children in Malagasy cities eat Koba Aina every day.
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Critical health issue
Nutri’Zaza, which has been distributing Koba Aina since 2013, says the flour addresses a critical public health issue.
Founded to build on child nutrition projects, Nutri’Zaza reinvests profits to sustain its mission. The company also collaborates with NGOs and government agencies across Madagascar.
“People are used to welfare programmes. But we took the opposite approach,” says Nutri’Zaza’s director, Mandresy Randriamiharisoa.
“We took a gamble to monetise a public health service. If we explain the benefits of the product, that people are responsible for their own future and can invest in themselves, their children, and their future, then it could work. And it has worked.”
While malnutrition in rural Madagascar has been the subject of much research, the problem in urban areas has received less attention.
This is despite the fact chronic malnutrition is a severe issue in the cities of central Madagascar, including the capital.
Nutri’Zaza hopes that by making its porridge widely available at an affordable price, stunted growth among children in Madagascar’s cities will be dramatically reduced, breaking the cycle of poverty that malnutrition perpetuates.
This story was adapted from the original French version, reported by RFI correspondent Sarah Tétaud in Antananarivo.
