Today, 1 in every 5 children under the age of 5 in Malaysia suffers from a form of malnutrition called stunting. Stunting can have a life-long impact in our children’s lives, both physically and cognitively, and hence putting their future at risk. Fortunately, stunting can be reduced and prevented by increasing the diet consumption of quality yet affordable protein, such as chicken and eggs!
To raise public awareness on the significance of this issue, Ceva Animal Health Malaysia, together with Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), Federation of Livestock Farmers Association of Malaysia (FLFAM), and Agritech Enterprise Sdn Bhd brought the C Our Future event into IOI City Mall Putrajaya on November 30th, 2019.
Many local poultry producers had supported the event with their generosity in providing
sponsorship. Among the sponsors are Zenxin Agriculture Sdn Bhd, Teo Seng Farming Sdn Bhd, Lay Hong Berhad, CP Malaysia, Gesing Group Sdn Bhd, Liang Kee Layer Farm, and Bengtak Poultry Sdn Bhd.
It was an honor to have YBhg. Dato’ Dr. Quaza Nizamuddin bin Hassan Nizam, Director General of DVS to deliver an inspirable speech in the event. Dato’ voiced his concern that there shouldn’t be 1/5 of children facing stunting condition while the country is having high per capita consumption of chicken meat per year near 50kg. Together with FLFAM, DVS will propose eggs and milk to be in the program aligned with government’s breakfast program for primary school children. According to Dato’, the target are 2.7Millions eggs to be supplied to 7,700 schools with 185,000 teachers daily.
This will create demand and benefit the industry too. On the other hand, industry should be structured and transformed so that farmers are practicing in proper manner with MY GAP as reference. Federation must look into issues such as antimicrobial residue, animal health and new re-emerging diseases and industry must be transparent to alert DVS so that control measures can be taken before disease become endemic in the country. Finally, Dato’ thanked Ceva Animal Health for pushing this awareness program on with FLFAM and DVS together industry’s involvement. He also hopes that awareness will be created in making sure children getting nutritious food and industry grows in a structural manner without causing much issue in the country.
The event also involved SUKA Society (“suara kanak-kanak”, means the children’s voices), a non- profit organization in Malaysia, with their effort focused on improving children’s lives, especially in indigenous (Orang Asli) communities.
Under the common goal of “Embrace Chicken and Eggs to Break the Cycle of Child Stunting”, C Our Future event had successfully reach out to close to 1,000 visitors. C Our Future event ended with joyful chicken dance and fun engagement between children and families through activities such as balloonist clown, children sand art and colorful egg shell painting.