Maputo — Mozambique's Food and Nutritional Security Technical Secretariat (SETSAN) is preparing to submit to the government a draft bill on the Right to Adequate Food before the end of this year.

This is one of the goals of the Food and Nutritional Security Strategy (ESAN II) approved by the government in 2007.

Teams from several sectors are involved in drafting this bill, which is coordinated by the Agriculture Ministry, through SETSAN, with the assistance of the Justice Ministry.

A SETSAN source, cited in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", said that consultations have been conducted since May 2009 at national and provincial levels and the bill is expected to be submitted by September this year.

The process to draft the "Law on the Human Right to Adequate Food" was launched with the signing of an agreement between the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Mozambican Agriculture Ministry in May. Under this agreement, SETSAN received the assistance of two FAO technicians and financial support from the same organization to start the process of consultations among the communities.

Recent studies show a slight improvement in food security, as measured by malnutrition among children. In 2003, 48 per cent of Mozambican children were malnourished. The figure fell to 44 per cent in 2008, but this is still regarded as unacceptably high.