Assessment of the impact of communication strategy (Radio Jingle) on the awareness of and the production of indigenous vegetables in Southwestern Nigeria

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)The IDRC-GAC (Global Affairs Canada) project on “Synergizing fertilizer micro-dosing and indigenous vegetable production to enhance food and economic security of West African farmers” project utilized a branded radio program “Ramo Elefo” (or Ramo, the Vegetable Seller) to create awareness about products and innovations promoted by the project as well as to effectively mobilize the general populace in adopting the innovations made popular by the project. The project intensively used three major mass media: radio, TV, newspapers/magazines. The media strategy reached up to 8 million people in Benin Republic and more than 10 million in Nigeria

Effect of Household Cooking Methods on Polyphenols and Antioxidant Capacity of Endogenous Leafy Vegetables

Leafy vegetables are often suggested to pretreatments prior to use. One of the usual practice is the cooking methods which presumably affect biochemical and physicochemical compounds. This study aims to evaluate various cooking methods of leafy vegetables, namely precooking without additive, cooking with additive (traditional potash called Kanmu or ash filtrate) or cooking without additive on total polyphenols content and antioxidant activity of three traditional leafy vegetables (Justicia tenella, Acmella uliginosa and Sesamum radiatum). Total polyphenol contents (TPC) ranged between 0.36 – 0.60 g GAE/100g DW. Traditional cooking methods affected biochemical and physicochemical compounds depending on species. For instance, precooking and cooking with potash decreased significantly (p<0.05) TPC in J. tenella leaves while no significant effect was evidenceed in the case of cooking with ash filtrate and cooking without additive. Regarding antioxidant capacity, precooking and cooking without additive significantly increased it [raw 39.01 – 63.9%), P and CWA (85.58 – 90.89%)] whilst cooking with additive decreased it (CP, CF; 10.77-44.44%)

Impact assessment of production of indigenous vegetables in West Africa : MicroVeg Project

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with financial support from the Government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada (GAC)The report aims to evaluate the impact of MICROVEG intervention, which is being implemented through the Innovation Platform (IP) systems in 51 Local Government Areas/Districts of two countries, Nigeria and Benin. The research focused on scaling up advancements in indigenous vegetables production to increase traditional vegetable yields while also preserving soil and water ecosystems, and conserving fertilizer costs. The project targeted four indigenous vegetables: Telfairia occidentalis (Ugu, Nigeria only), Amaranthus cruentus (aléfo), Ocimum gratissimum (tchiayo, Benin only) and Solanum macrocarpon (gboma). This paper reviews indicators of the programme’s success, and scaling up