Seasonal variation in the food consumption patterns of the people of Mutambara District of Zimbabwe

A survey of seasonal food consumption patterns in rural Zimbabwe.The pattern of the consumption of various food items in rural households would be expected to change with the seasons as the availability of various types of food changes. To obtain meaningful information on the pattern of food consumption of a given community, it is essential to conduct surveys during the different seasons of the year. The objective of this study was to determine the food items consumed by the people in Mutambara during the course of the year. To do this, surveys were conducted during the periods of January, May and August, 1988. These periods correspond approximately to the hot, wet beginning of the cold, dry and the beginning of the hot, dry periods respectively. In an earlier report1 the types of foods consumed during the December/January period of 1988 were reported

Food shortage in Zimbabwe: Can wild cereal grains be an alternative source of nutrition?

Cereals are used as staple food in most countries all over the world including Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, poor rainfall patterns have hampered the production of traditional cereals like maize and wheat leading to poverty especially in third world countries. Five wild cereal grains namely; Amaranthus hybridus, Brachiaria brizantha, Panicum maximum, Rottiboellea cochinchinensis and Sorghum arundinaceum were studied to determine their nutritional value because of their drought tolerance. Two domesticated cereals were used for comparison. The macro nutrients determined were proteins, carbohydrates, fats and minerals. Amaranthus hybridus, a wild cereal, had the highest protein and fat content of 21.44% and 11.50% respectively, compared to all the other cereal grains.  Brachiaria brizantha had the highest fibre content of 30.34% while the red variety of Sorghum bicolor had the least fibre content of 2.51%. Phosphorus was detected in all the cereal grains studied. Calcium was detected in all the cereal grains except in red variety of Sorghum bicolor. The nutritional composition of the cereal grains makes them potential alternative food sources