Subscribe to RSS
Posts Tagged ‘nutrition-&-health’
Defining underutilized species included in the “nutrition indicators for biodiversity”
FAO and Bioversity International have developed two nutrition indicators for biodiversity useful to measure biodiversity-related food composition and food consumption of underutilized species (www.fao.org/infoods/biodiversity/index_en.stm).
More information can be found in the document “Specific definition of underutilized species for human consumption”
While reporting upon these indicators, difficulties were encountered in defining underutilized foods. Therefore, FAO and Crops for the Future have developed specific criteria in order to establish the reference list for underutilized foods counting for the nutritional indicators for biodiversity:
Of the following criteria, the first one is compulsory, and several of the others should be met for a species to be included in this list:
- The food was/is/could be used for human consumption.
- May have great potential for contributing to food security and nutrition.
- Mainly local and traditional crops/animals (including insects, amphibians and reptiles) whose distribution, biology, cultivation and uses are poorly documented.
- Receive little attention from research, farmers, policy and decision makers, technology providers and consumers.
- Have weak or no formal seed/animal germplasm supply systems.
- Farmed, reared, gathered or caught in small scale.
- The species must be grown/raised in the country/region where it is underutilized.
Species that are imported do not count as underutilized in that region.
Furthermore, information on country/region of origin should be given.
These criteria, only intended to be used to report on the two nutrition indicators for biodiversity, should not replace the broad criteria that has been defined for categorizing underutilized species as such (www.underutilized-species.org/spotlight/what_are_underutilized_species.asp).
The integration of these specific criteria and the reference list of underutilized foods counting for food biodiversity will be uploaded on the websites of the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species at www.underutilized-species.org/species/about_species.asp and of the INFOODS at www.fao.org/infoods/biodiversity/index_en.stm.
We would appreciate receiving your comments by email (email hidden; JavaScript is required) within the 20th March 2010 on both the criteria and the list before publishing them on the websites.
We look forward and thank you!
“Fruits for nutrition, poverty reduction and environment”
International Conference held at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh 30-31 March 2010. Please find the Conference Announcement here.
Money will not end Africa’s famine
[by James Shikwati*, Business Daily Africa, 2 September 2009]
There was a time in Africa when elders would “talk” to the drought and negotiate their way into receiving rainfall. With their unique understanding of causation, elders would either sacrifice a black sheep or ask a virgin girl to bathe in a lake in order to draw the attention of the rain gods. Would that they could do so now.
With an estimated 50 million Africans in dire need of food aid and an additional 120 million facing starvation if immediate measures to alleviate the situation are not taken, the general assumption has become that developing countries do not have what funds are necessary to increase food productivity.
Too little time has been invested in seeking to understand why Africa, with its vast farmlands and its brilliant and innovative sons and daughters, still goes hungry as the rest of the world battles with obesity. Computer experts are aware of malware, the “malicious software” that is designed to infiltrate a computer without the owners’ informed consent. The general computer user is familiar with viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and spyware among other programmes that cause harm to the operating system.
As we talk about famine in Africa, we should take a moment to evaluate the hostile and intrusive programmes operating in the background as food aid in particular and aid in general run in the foreground. Ask yourself, for example, why a majority of Africans have changed their diets. Kenyan nutritionists point out that we have ignored high value foods and replaced them with junk, sacrificing thousands of Africa’s domesticated and wild edible crops at the altar of modernity. Crops whose production should be scaled up by virtue of their ability to adapt to Africa’s climate have instead been framed as crops of poverty.
Crops such as the tamarind, millet, sorghum, indigenous peanuts and potatoes have been kicked out of the menu in favour of wheat and beef.
Over 50 years of food aid targeted at Africa have been marked by a corresponding increase in episodes of famine, which points to the possible existence of a food “malware” – a malicious system that changes people’s dietary habits in favour of imported foods. The same malware has penetrated agricultural schools, where it trains graduates to promote the new foods as opposed to upgrading local varieties.
Worst of all, it has penetrated our political leadership, corrupting their minds with the quest for kickbacks to the extent that they do not invest in local solutions as foreign solutions can loaded with the the possibility of a quick 10 per cent. In the absence of an effective “anti-virus” this malware loads its intentions on the hapless operating systems of Africa’s nations, forcing them to become perpetual beggars.
It is my contention that, to reduce the incidence of famine on the continent, Africans must develop an effective system for detecting the “malicious background operating system” that has not only denied them the opportunity to promote their local cuisines but has also exposed their land to grabbing.
It is time we invested in our indigenous crops, turned our rural populations into celebrated food suppliers through incentives and invested in technology to free our continent from perennial famine. Contrary to common belief, money is not the solution to Africa’s famine problem. Neither, for that matter, is food aid. What we need to do is get rid of the malware operating in our system.
* James Shikwati is the director of Inter Region Economic Network: email hidden; JavaScript is required
Jackfruit delights
JACKFRUIT is an easy crop to grow. It requires no artificial fertilizers, pesticides or even irrigation. All parts of the fruit, except the stalk, can be converted into food.
It is nutritious as well. One hundred grams of jackfruit has 303 mg of potassium, an ingredient which helps lower blood pressure. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and high in Vitamin C and manganese. It is an ideal food for weight loss.
Jackfruit contains phytonutrients which reduce the risk from cancer. It has anti-ageing, antioxidant and anti-ulcer properties. The seeds too are edible and nutritious. They contain 38 per cent carbohydrates, 6.6 per cent protein and 0.4 per cent fat.
Here is a recipe for you to try.
Jackseed vada
Ingredients
Jack seed powder: 3 cups
Flour: Rice/Wheat//Besan/Maida: 4 cups,
Chillies: 4, Onions: 2
Curry leaves: A few
Ginger: Half inch chopped
Salt to taste
Steam cook the jackfruit seeds. Peel the outer cover. Retain the inner brownish skin, it’s nutritious. Powder the seeds after drying. Let the powder be a little coarse. Mix all the ingredients. Press into flat round vadas and deep fry in oil.
For more receipes visit: www.civilsocietyonline.com/aug09/aug093.asp