PHNOM PENH: As Cambodia prepares to take full responsibility for its school meal programme by 2028, some snack vendors are replacing sugary treats and energy drinks with fresh, locally sourced foods.
The initiative is supported by district education offices, provincial health authorities and development organisation iDE.
The changes to school snacks will play a major role in improving nutritional outcomes; Vendors help determine what pupils can buy during the school day, while local growers and food processors can influence what is available to schools and families.
In a Thursday (Nov 12) statement, iDE said it works with local authorities to help vendors switch from snacks of unknown origin, sugary treats and energy drinks to fresh, locally made options.
At a communal preschool in Siem Reap province, Thong Bas prepares breakfast five days a week for about 25 children aged three to five.
She uses vegetables, herbs and fruit from her home garden, where she enriches the soil with compost and uses biological methods to manage pests and diseases.
The small profit she earns helps maintain the garden and cover some of her family’s basic expenses, according to iDE.
Cambodia’s 2021–22 Demographic and Health Survey found that 42 per cent of children aged six to 23 months received a minimum acceptable diet, a measure that accounts for how often young children are fed and how varied their food is. In rural areas, the figure was 35 per cent.
About one in five children under five was stunted, while around one in 10 experienced wasting, meaning they were too thin for their height.
During a recent visit to Cambodia, iDE chief executive Reed Peterson met food producers and other business owners working in agriculture, food processing, school food and sanitation.
He noted that access to nutritious food depended in part on whether local businesses could get their products to the places where families shop and children eat.
“We need a wider system that connects farmers, food businesses, schools and communities, so that safe and nutritious choices are accessible in everyday life,” Peterson said.
In Battambang province, Man Hayat began making fish powder in 2016 for her own children, using small freshwater fish with many tiny bones.
Her business, Hayat Fish Powder Enterprise, now employs eight people and has expanded its range to include vegetable fish crackers and vegetable powders.
Hayat received business training and mentoring through iDE’s SHE Incubator and Accelerator programmes, as well as a grant of more than $4,000 to expand production.
The grant came through the Transforming Lives Through Nutrition project, funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She is preparing to sell her products through grocery stores, village shops, public schools and factory communities. For Hayat, reaching those outlets would extend the market for a product that started in her own kitchen.
“First, I only wanted to make nutritious food for my own children,” Hayat said.
“Now, I want to make these products accessible to more families and create opportunities for others through my business.” - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
