AMA, others celebrate World Egg Day with children
The Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) and two other organisations yesterday presented eggs to some schoolchildren in Accra as they marked World Egg Day in the metropolis.
At the Independence Avenue Cluster of Schools, the AMA, in collaboration with Barbecue (BBQ) Masters, a private agricultureal organisation, distributed over 1,000 eggs to the pupils.
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The Greater Accra Poultry Farmers Association (GAPFA) also gave 2,400 boiled eggs to the pupils of the Odorkor Cluster of Schools in a similar gesture.
The celebration was christened: “An egg per child, a whole meal” to indicate the relevance of eggs in children’s health, growth and development.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BBQ Masters, Mr David Nana Edjah, said the pupils were targeted because “eggs are very important to the health of children”.
He said eggs were sources of high quality protein, zinc, iron, copper and vitamins, which all played essential roles in brain development.
Mr Edjah stressed that a healthy diet during the early years of children aided the “proper development” of the brain and high intellectual growth.
“We recommend that a child eats preferably a boiled egg at least every day,” he stated.
School feeding
He commended the government for initiating the School Feeding Programme and recommended that the government often included eggs in the pupils’ diet, given the importance of eggs in the brain development of children.
The Executive Assistant at the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive’s office, Mr Emmanuel Clottey, advised the pupils to always remember the relevance of eggs in their health to consume at least an egg a day.
The AMA and BBQ, in partnership with another poultry farm, Amplifies Ghana, also distributed educational materials to the children.
They also handed out leaflets on the nutritional values and health benefits of eggs to the public.
Other organising partners included Aglow Farms, a poultry farm, and Essar Agro, a feed production organisation, both providing a number of crates of eggs which were distributed to the pupils.
The donation
The Headmistress of the Odorkor Maclean Basic School, Ms Doris Berkoh, received the eggs on behalf of the pupils of the Odorkor Cluster of Schools.
Ms Berkoh applauded the GAPFA for the gesture and appealed to them to do more of such donations, saying egg eating would go a long way to provide the children with the essential nutrients.
The Chairman of the Management Committee of the GAPFA, Mr Seth A. Wilson, explained that egg consumption contributed positively to the health of people, stressing that “it is enough justification for us to take the production and consumption of eggs more seriously”.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to give the poultry industry a little more attention by making more resources available for the development and expansion of the business.
