Vegetable consumption pattern of households in selected areas of the old rivers state in Nigeria

The vegetable consumption pattern of households in selected areas in the old  Rivers State (now Rivers and Bayelsa States) in Nigeria was investigated. Areas studied were Port Harcourt the State capital, Igwuruta, Ahoada and Kaiama. Resultsshowed that mothers consumed 59 ± 0.45g to 130 ± 2.04g/person/day of   vegetables between the months of May and July, the peak season of vegetable production. Factors that influenced vegetable consumption were found to be chiefly season and culture. Other factors were availability/price for 43.8% of households in Kaiama, a riverine community, while taste and nutrition knowledge wielded minor influences. Leafy vegetables were consumed at least four times per week in Igwuruta and Port Harcourt, while households in Ahoada and Kaiama, where culture had strong influence, consumed them only occasionally. Vegetables consumed were mainly pumpkin leaves (Telfairia occidentialis) and okro (Abelmoschus esculentus) in areas where season played a strong role. In areas where culture had a strong  influence, bitterleaf, a leafy vegetable that undergoes rigorous process of squeezing and washing and is only scantly used in soups, was the vegetable of choice. Other vegetables less frequently consumed were Amaranthus hybridus, Pterocarpus spp.,Gnetum africanum and Piper guineense leaves. These were used chiefly in varioussoup dishes eaten as accompaniments with the starchy staples. Other dishes inwhich leafy vegetables were consumed were pottage in those areas of high  vegetable consumption, and occasionally in stew by all households investigated. Household size of 5 to 8 persons consumed their soup dishes between two and four days, while larger households of nine and above ate their soups in one day. However, households with deep freezer facilities stored their soup dishes for up to seven days. In spite of the reasonable consumption of vegetables during the peak season of production, reports of micronutrient deficiencies in Nigeria are rife, indicating a need for intervention. Possible reasons for the high prevalence of  micronutrient deficiencies are seasonal variations in vegetable production,  inadequate processing and preservation of vegetables for all year distribution and culture which may limit adequate consumption of leafy vegetables even when they are in abundance. This situation underscores the need for nutrition education,  coupled with a program on dietary diversification to create awareness, increase production, processing, preservation and consumption of vegetables.Key words: Vegetable consumption, season, culture, nutrition education Le modèle de consommation de légumes tel que pratiqué par des ménages dans desrégions sélectionnées de l’ancien Etat de ‘Rivers’ (aujourd’hui Etats de Rivers et deBayelsa) au Nigeria a fait l’objet de recherche. Les régions étudiées étaient Port  Harcourt, la Capitale de l’Etat, Igwuruta, Ahoada et Kaiama. Les résultats ont montré que des mères consommaient entre 59 ± 0.45g et 130 ±  2.04g/personne/jour de légumes entre les mois de mai et de juillet, la saison  maximale de production de légumes. Il s’est avéré que les facteurs qui ont influencé la consommation de légumes étaient principalement la saison et la culture. D’autres facteurs étaient la disponibilité/le prix pour 43.8% des ménages de Kaiama, une  communauté riveraine, tandis que le goût et la connaissance en matière de nutrition ont joué une influence mineure. Les légumes verts étaient consommés au moins quatre fois par semaine à Igwuruta et à Port Harcourt, tandis que les ménages  d’Ahoada et de Kaiama, où la culture a une forte influence, ne les consommaient que de temps à autre. Les légumes consommés étaient principalement les feuilles de courge (Telfairia occidentialis) et okro (Abelmoschus esculentus) dans les régions où la saison jouait un grand rôle. Dans les régions où la culture a une forte  influence, la feuille amère, un légume vert qui subit un processus rigoureux qui consiste à le presser et le laver, et qui n’est utilisé que légèrement dans les soupes, était le légume favori. D’autres légumes moins fréquemment consommés étaient les feuilles d’Amaranthus hybridus, de Pterocarpus spp., devGnetum africanum et de Piper guineense. Ces légumes étaient utilisés surtout dans les différentes variétésde soupes mangées comme des accompagnements avec les aliments de base  riches en féculents. D’autres plats dans lesquels des légumes verts étaient  consommés étaient des potages dans ces régions de grande consommation de légumes, et de temps à autre en ragoût par tous les ménages qui ont fait l’objet de l’étude. Les ménages d’une taille de 5 à 8 personnes consommaient leurs plats de soupes entre deux et quatre jours, tandis que de plus grands ménages de neuf  personnes et plus mangeaient leurs soupes en une journée. Cependant, les  ménages qui ont des réfrigérateurs conservaient leurs plats de soupes jusqu’à sept jours. En dépit de la consommation raisonnable de légumes pendant la saison maximale de production, les rapports sur les carences en micronutriments au Nigeria vont bon train, indiquant une nécessité d’intervention. Les raisons possibles qui expliquent cette prévalence élevée des carences en micronutriments sont les variations saisonnières en production de légumes, un traitement inadéquat et une mauvaise conservation des légumes à répartir sur toute l’année, ainsi qu’une culture qui peut limiter une consommation adéquate des légumes verts même lorsqu’il y en a en abondance. Cette situation met en exergue la nécessité d’une éducation portant sur la nutrition, complétée par un programme sur la diversification  alimentaire en vue d’une prise de conscience, d’une augmentation de la production, du traitement, de la conservation et de la consommation des légumes.Mots-clés: Consommation de légumes, saison, culture, éducation portant sur la nutritio

Traditional green leafy vegetables as underutilised sources of micronutrients in a rural farming community in south-west Nigeria II: consumption pattern and potential contribution to micronutrient requirements

Objective: To determine the consumption pattern of selected households consuming traditional green leafy vegetables (TGLVs) during three seasons and potential contribution to recommended nutrient intakes.Design: Repeated household survey using food frequency questionnaire to obtain consumption pattern of selected TGLVs.Setting and Subjects: Selected households in a small rural farming community: pre-rainy (n = 43), rainy (n = 36) and post-rainy seasons (n = 40).Results: Corchorus olitorius and A. hybridus were the most consumed by > 70% of households across three seasons. A. esculentus and A. viridis were the least consumed TGLVs through all the seasons. Uncultivated and cultivated TGLVs could contribute between 26–> 100% and 18–96%, respectively, of recommended intake for vitamin A for children and women. For young children, both the cultivated and uncultivated TGLVs could contribute more than 50% of their RDA for iron.Conclusion: seasonal availability, and preference for certain species, determine the consumption pattern of the TGLVs studied. Uncultivated and less utilised vegetables have the potential to make significant contributions to the micronutrient requirements of women and children, especially vitamin A and iron if frequently used

The evolution of poverty and welfare in Nigeria, 1985-92

The authors profile Nigerian poverty, showing its evolution from 1985 to 1992. This paper is divided into 6 sections, beginning with an overview. Section 2 looks at the sources of data used. Section 3 examines household income and expenditure distribution, interprets poverty indices, and calculates relative poverty lines for Nigeria. Section 4, the paper's core, presents the spatial characteristics of poverty in Nigeria and their evolution over the seven-year period, indicating in which regions and states the poor are located and the extent and severity of their poverty; lays out the poor's basic demographic characteristics including time use and employment patterns, detailing how these have evolved; features the roles the poor play in various sectors of the economy; and discuss how changes in poverty could be explained by growth-related and redistribution factors. Section 5 discusses the evolution of expenditures and explains how expenditure patterns correspond to poverty. Section 6 presents conclusions, among them: the extremely poor -who dominate the ranks of the uneducated- became poorer, while all other income groups had a higher standard of living; an increase in mean per capita household spending reduced the proportion of the population in poverty but different regions did not share equally in the benefits of growth; household spending grew faster in southern and central Nigeria and slower in the north; and poverty was overwhelmingly rural and regional, but also greatly influenced by age, educaton, and the nature of employment.Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Reduction Strategies,Services&Transfers to Poor,Poverty Assessment,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Lines

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF FARMING PRACTICES IN THE PERI-URBAN HINTERLANDS OF NEPAL

Spatial location of the farm households shapes farming practices and livelihoods of the farmers. Many socio-economic variables have strong spatial relations that would otherwise be missed by data aggregation at household level. Geographic Information System (GIS)provides display and analysis of socio-economic data that may be fundamental for many social scientists to understand socio-economic reality influenced by geographical position of the farm households. Present article aims at integrating socio-economic data into GIS environment to examine spatial relation in the resource availability and use employing spatial and random sampling techniques. Result demonstrates the variation in the socioeconomic attributes along the spatial gradient which is mainly related to the infrastructures such as road, market and improved agro-inputs. While households with better access to these infrastructures have tendency to use more agro-chemicals, have larger family, land holding and livestock units, better off-farm opportunities, commercial farming orientation and hence higher family income; opposite is true for the households with poor access to these infrastructures. Peri-urban farmlands, wherever agro-chemicals are applied imprudently, faces the problems of agro-ecological degradation while rural subsistence farming faces the problem of spatial poverty

Phenology and Yield Attributes of Inbred Lines of Flutedpumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis Hook) Derived from Landraces in South Eastern Nigeria

Inbred lines of T. occidentalis derived from Landraces which are collected in five states of Anambra (AN), Imo (IM), Abia (AB), Enugu (EN) and Rivers (RV) of South Eastern Agro-ecology of Nigeria were established ex-situ during 2012 and 2013 cropping seasons and assessed for their desirability for use as hybridization materials. Their Phenological assessment based on vegetative, flowering, and fruiting attributes indicate that all the inbreds did not differ in number of days to 50% seed emergence but Abia inbred (AB/AB) performed better than all other inbreds. Producing the longest vine most number of branches and nodes and highest internode length and leaf number plant-1 at 6 weeks after planting (6 WAP). The male (AB/AB) inbred also flowered earlier (10 WAP) than other inbreds while those of (AN/AN) flowered later (13 WAP). The female Anambra (AN/AN) inbreds flowered earlier (12 WAP) than other female inbreds while those of Rivers flowered last (16 WAP). The highest number of female flowers plant-1 (150) was obtained from Anambra (AN/AN) inbreds and their fruits also matured earlier at 13 weeks after pod set (13 WAPS), while the female Abia (AB/AB) inbreds had the lowest number of flowers and fruits which also matured last (18 WAPS). Our findings show potential for genetic enhancement of fluted pumpkin of different landraces through hybridization. Keywords: Phenology, Inbred lines, landraces, and agro-ecology.

Vegetable Consumption patterns in Yaounde, Cameroon

A survey was conducted in August and September 2008 in Yaoundé, Cameroon to assess vegetable consumption attitudes, constraints and factors that stimulate households’ consumption. Stratified sample based on district size, socioeconomic status and ethnics groups were used. Three hundred households were interviewed using a questionnaire and there were four times as many women as men in the sample. Data were analyzed using SNAP. More than 80% of the respondents were educated at the secondary (54%) and tertiary (30%) levels. The respondents were generally the wife (35%) or children (30%), and sometimes the husband (20%). More than 50% of the respondents were landlords living in their own homes and the rest were tenants. On average, the population of Yaoundé consumed vegetables frequently (2 to 4 times per week). Tomato, onion, carrot, and chili pepper were the most preferred exotic vegetables while bitter leaf (>80%) and okra (>70%), were the most preferred traditional vegetables. Attitudes towards vegetables varied according to socioeconomic and ethnic group. Main constraints to vegetable consumption were preparation time for respondents in the upper class (30%) and social taboos (amaranth is an ominous crop and can cause impotency in men; okra can inhibit the traditional treatment of some diseases) for the middle and lower classes. Freshness, wholesomeness, and color of the fruit or leaves determined the decision to purchase vegetables. Diversification of diet which is good for health, the preference of family members, and taste were the main reasons for consuming vegetables. Taste, degree of sliminess (okra), and smell after cooking were factors that increased satisfaction during consumption. Two-thirds of the respondents knew the benefits of vegetable consumption but their knowledge was not specific and is influenced by social taboos. Willingness to pay for processed traditional vegetables was higher among respondents in the upper income class (56.9%) than the lower (45.8%) and middle (37.1%) classes. The study revealed a need to further promote the consumption vegetables and inform consumers of their nutritional benefits.Keywords: vegetables, consumption, nutrition, vitamins, mineralsAfrican Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Volume 13 No. 2 April 201

Gender and innovation processes in maize-based systems

This MAIZE report offers a panorama of the gender dimensions of local agricultural innovation processes in the context of maize-based farming systems and livelihoods

Review on Heavy Metal Contamination in Vegetables Grown in Ethiopia and Its Economic Welfare Implications

Urbanization is occurring rapidly throughout Ethiopia, as populations are increasingly migrating from rural areas to major cities. Vegetables constitute an important part of the human diet since they contain carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fibers required for human health. However, these plants contain both essential and toxic metals over a wide range of concentrations. Heavy metal contamination of the food items is one of the most important aspects of food quality assurance. The most common heavy metal contaminants are Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn. Metals are natural components in soil. Some of these metals are micronutrients necessary for plant growth, such as Zn, Cu, Mn, Ni, and Co, while others have unknown biological function, such as Cd, Pb, and Hg. There is a strong link between micronutrient nutrition of plants, animals and humans and the uptake and impact of contaminants in these organisms. The content of essential elements in plants is conditional, the content being affected by the characteristics of the soil and the ability of plants to selectively accumulate some metals. They are also known to have effect on plant growth, ground cover and have a negative impact on soil. The uptake and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in vegetables is influenced by many factors such as climate, atmospheric depositions, the concentrations of heavy metals in soils, the nature of soil and the degree of maturity of the plants at the time of the harvest. Water pollution by heavy metals is mainly caused by point source emissions from mining activities and a wide variety of industries. The studies undertake to determine the concentration of heavy metals in soils, as well as on the vegetable grown in the vicinity of industrial areas and contaminated irrigation water in Ethiopia indicated that Vegetables grown in such lands, contaminated with heavy metals and unsafe for consumption. Prolonged human consumption of unsafe concentrations of heavy metals in food stuffs may lead to the disruption of numerous biological and biochemical processes in the human body, the chronic accumulation of heavy metals in the kidney and liver of humans causing disruption of numerous biochemical processes, leading to cardiovascular, nervous, and kidney and bone diseases. Heavy metals have greatest health risk to both adult and children consumers of vegetables grown in contaminated soil and water. Keywords: Heavy metals, Waste water, Vegetables, Health ris

The Social Network of Urban Agriculture: Livelihood Diversification as a System of Provision in Port Harcourt City Nigeria

This thesis explains how poor urban households in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria, engage with urban agricultural production practices in order to improve their conditions. I show that this engagement is socially mediated by a primary desire for households’ food security. To demonstrate how people negotiated and navigated urban agriculture processes, I examine three key decision-making points – firstly, what people do to start urban agriculture; secondly, if, and when, they diversify their engagement; and thirdly, if, and when, they cease engaging in urban agriculture. Counter-posing respondents in each of these three groups with a group of respondents that have never engaged in the urban agriculture, I demonstrate how the social relations of urban agriculture framework mediates these processes in different ways. I extend Meagher’s conceptualisation of sociality of informality that focuses on legacies, linkages and localities to analyse social relations in an urban environment when informality is unescapable by these poor urban households, by adding a further dimension of ‘land’. I elaborated this approach by introducing the social relations of land with an aspect of the sustainable livelihoods approach to name it the social relations of UA framework. Notably, this is its focus on the determinants of livelihood diversification. While ‘land’ (as space) is critical to any economic activity, it takes particular social forms in relation to urban agriculture through the qualities of the soil, aspect, proximity to water, markets, built environment as well as tenure. Through a quantitative survey with a representative sample I recruited respondents from 40 households categorised around the 3 decision-making points and a group that have never engaged in production phase of urban agriculture. I conducted an in-depth interview with the 40 respondents and elaborated their responses in 4 focus groups discussions corresponding to the four groups. Looking across the different engagements, I argue that gender as an identity (primarily in shaping access to land); birth right in securing indigeneity (and hence, through inheritance shaping access to land) and social networks in accessing resources, assets and markets are significant in understanding how people engage with urban agricultur

Demand Analysis for Tomato, Onion, Peppers, and Fresh Okra in Nigeria

The results found in this study have implications for local Nigerian food producers, retailers, other participants of the food sector, and government food policy makers. In this thesis the demand analysis for onion, peppers, fresh okra and tomato in Nigeria was conducted using General Household Survey data collected by the World Bank and the Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics. The two stage estimation procedure and Linear Approximation Almost Ideal Demand System addressing censoring were used to analyze the demand system. The analyses are based on the assumption that every household is maximizing its utility subject to a budget constraint. Standard errors on both stages of the estimation as well as for the calculated elasticities were adjusted using a bootstrap procedure. Most of the demographic characteristics determining consumption were significant. Marshallian cross price elasticities suggest that the products are a mix of gross substitutes and complements, whereas positive values of Hicksian cross-price elasticities indicate that all vegetables are net substitutes. According to expenditure elasticities, not all of the vegetables appear to be normal goods. Negative expenditure elasticity for fresh okra indicates that the vegetable is an inferior good. A combination of policies that increase purchasing power of population, and fosters food supply would benefit a developing country, like Nigeria, the most. Increased supply would trigger an increase in quantity demanded, improving the livelihood of agricultural producers, poor households and potentially creating more jobs in agricultural and related industries