Lagos Food Bank, Ajrena Foods partner to tackle malnutrition in children

Lagos Food Bank, a non-profit committed to solving the problem of malnutrition has partnered Ajrena Foods limited, producers of locally produced peanut butter, Nutzy to address malnutrition in children.

Titled, ‘Buy a jar, Feed a child campaign,’ the programme is aimed at ensuring that for every jar of Nutzy Creamy Peanut Butter 510g that is bought by a consumer in Lagos, a sachet of Nutzy Peanut Butter will be donated by the company to a malnourished child in need.

Nutzy Peanut Butter is a nutritious spread that consists of over 90 percent roasted groundnuts.

Speaking during the launch of the campaign at Lagos Food Bank, Ikeja, Michael Sunbola, president and founder of Lagos Food Bank Initiative said the partnership is very critical to the sustainability of Food Bank Initiative’s nutrition programme.

“The programme helps improve the nutrition of pregnant women and children, especially within the first 1000 days because nutrition is very critical to man’s development.

“Secondly, we do school feeding programmes in low cost private schools where we get to feed them three to four times a day. These are schools where parents pay N50 to N100 per day for school fees. Most of the time, these children go to school without food. So this school feeding programme helps feed them daily and the parents are able to channel their funds to paying their school fees,” Sunbola explained.

He assured that the partnership will help improve the children’s nutrition, as they are able to add the peanut butter to the bread they serve them.

“This is how sustainability is achieved. With meaningful partnerships such as these, we are able to reduce the cost of buying items.

“With their incredible resources we will be able to distribute Nutzy Peanut Butter sachets to children under 5 and lactating mothers across Lagos that fall under their Nutritious Meal Plan Intervention for Vulnerable Mothers and Children, (NUMEPLAN),” he added.

Read also: Foods that treat common diseases

Serena Dalamal Ramnani, CEO, Ajrena Foods limited said the aim of the company is to donate at least 100,000 sachets of Nutzy Peanut Butter across the next two months.

“We have the product needed to treat malnutrition but what we don’t have as a business is the access to the people that need it and this is why we came to Lagos Food Bank. When we first started relating with them, especially during the COVID-19 crisis when food was so scarce, we started donating to them and they started giving us documentations on who they have administered the food to, what the treatment plan was and what the benefits were.

“They were sending us before and after pictures of the situation. So we have full confidence that if we are going to be giving out products, we need to be fully confident that they are going to the right people and not that they are just disappearing. This is the reason behind Lagos Food Bank,” Ramnani explained.

She also explained that Ajrena Foods have spoken to Lagos Food Bank’s nutritionist on how they know when someone is malnourished and have gotten feedback that they have ways of testing them and they are put on bi-weekly treatment plan.