• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Nutrition knowledge of African indigenous vegetables

Fresh fruits and vegetables

The tendency to look down on indigenous African vegetables, while some people close to them suffer from diseases which their regular consumption could readily cure has led to the call for more awareness creation, on their immense nutritional benefits. Indeed, several research findings by African nutritionists such as Monica K. KansiimeJustus OchiengRadegunda KessyDaniel KaranjaDannie Romney  and  Victor Afari-Sefa have revealed that African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) have the  potential to sustainably address malnutrition, a growing problem in sub-Saharan Africa. This is due to unhealthy and imbalanced diets.

As succinctly stated: “Their consumption is however, limited by poor perceptions and lack of awareness of nutritional benefits. There is limited evidence of the effectiveness of community-focused information dissemination approaches in influencing participants’ perceptions and uptake of innovations in AIVs to address malnutrition.” Some people also erroneously associate the consumption of traditional vegetables with poverty. Negative perceptions have been more commonly reported among younger and urban consumers than older and rural consumers.

For instance, there are over 275 species of vegetable reported to be rapidly growing in Africa, of which 207 are indigenous to the continent. African indigenous vegetables (AIVs), also known as African traditional vegetables, hold excellent potential to improve nutrition and increase the dietary diversity of rural households. AIVs include all plants that originate on the continent, or have a long history of cultivation and domestication to African conditions and whose leaves, fruits, or roots are acceptable and used as vegetables through custom, habit, or tradition. This is according to Ambrose-Oji 2012 with his research on: “Urban Food Systems and African Indigenous Vegetables: Defining the Spaces and Places for African Indigenous Vegetables in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture.”

Despite their nutritional, income, and environmental benefits, the production and consumption of traditional vegetables in sub-Saharan Africa remains low due to factors including cultural values, human perceptions, and lack of consumer awareness about their benefits.  Nigerians have a lot to learn from the World Bank, 2011Report on “Nutrition at a Glance: Tanzania” one of 22 African countries with the highest burden of under-nutrition, particularly of children under five.

 For instance, in a study carried out by Afari-Sefa et al in 2016 titled: “Impact of Nutritional Perceptions of Traditional African Vegetables on Farm Household Production Decisions: A Case Study of Smallholders in Tanzania, it was obvious that malnutrition is prevalent therein the chosen rural community. Precisely, it was discovered that stunting affects 44percent of children under five years old. Anaemia among pre-school-aged children and pregnant women is 72percent and 58percent, respectively; while 24percent of pre-school-aged children and 15percent of pregnant women are deficient in vitamin A. There, the popular AIVs in urban markets and rural settings include amaranth, okra, spider plant, jute mallow, celosia, Jew’s mallow, roselle, cowpea leaf, African nightshade and African eggplant.

 Differences in chronic malnutrition among different ethnic groups, and between farming and pastoral households, are particularly striking. The prevalence of child stunting among under-fives is 59percent among Masaai pastoral communities, compared to between 20 and 40percent in neighbouring ethnic groups.

Unknown to them indigenous vegetables are nutrient-dense and help address mineral deficiencies and hidden hunger, impacting positively on their well-being and productivity. For example, amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) and African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum) are rich in micronutrients such as iron and vitamin A. Compared with, for example, cabbage, amaranths have been shown to contain 57 times more vitamin A precursor, 13 times more iron, and eight times more calcium (Yang and Keding 2009. “Nutritional Contributions of Important African Indigenous Vegetables”.

Studies investigating the effects of some awareness campaigns have shown positive effects on participants’ perceptions. AIV promotional activities had a positive and significant effect on children’s and women’s dietary diversity in northern Tanzania. As well as nutritional benefits, the production of AIVs has demonstrated higher returns to labour. Compared to a typical cash crop such as maize or sunflower AIVs also generally have shorter growing cycles than most staple crops, and can fit into year-round production systems. They have the ability to maximise scarce water supplies and soil nutrients better than crops such as maize. Beneficiaries have also been taught on the importance of the change of preservation of vegetables from pounding and sun drying to parboiling and drying in stacks under the shade. This has largely assisted in retaining their nutritional benefits.

Target communities participated in a community-based nutritional outreach facilitated by the Good Seed Initiative (GSI), held at Monduli district hospital in September 2014. The results provide evidence of the achievements of the GSI intervention, and of the effectiveness of alternative information dissemination approaches. A resident of Monduli confessed that: “I didn’t know that some of these weeds were actually vegetables and nutritious. When we had the nutritional outreach at Monduli, several vegetables were demonstrated and we participated in testing the recipes. Now, I am no longer looking at it as a weed but a healthy vegetable. My vision has improved and I attribute this to the frequent consumption of AIVs.”

Respondents mentioned the key health benefits of AIVs as: improving vision, increasing haemoglobin in the body (reduced anaemia), and increasing body immunity. Other benefits mentioned included: giving the body energy, healthy skin development, repair of body tissues, and helping children grow. Responses from the farmers reflected the level of awareness, as the benefits mentioned correlate with information disseminated at the outreach, as well as empirical evidence on nutritional values of AIVs

 Nigeria should therefore, key into the various initiatives aimed at changing  perceptions and increase awareness of the health benefits of AIVs and other nutrition-sensitive traditional foods that have been initiated in Africa. They have the objective to reach rural and urban consumers through diverse approaches such as community-based outreach, mass media, ICT-enabled campaigns, and educational programmes in schools and hospitals.

This awareness is important to project implementers and policymakers in designing interventions or policies aimed at improving rural livelihoods, and particularly those relating to the delivery of extension or advisory services to ethnic communities.

 Effective and sustainable collaborative efforts are required to drive this message home to the teeming consumers. This should involve federal and state ministries of agriculture and rural development, science and technology, information, research institutes, the mass media and some Non-Governmental Organisations. Some of the solutions to the persisting problems we face on daily basis are closer to us than we care to know.

 

Ayo Oyoze Baje