nutrition integration fact sheet leumes · biofortified seeds are available, practitioners can...

In recognition of the relationship between nutrition, agricultural science and market forces, the development community is mov-ing toward increasingly inte-grated value chain development programming. Practitioners now must include nutritional considerations into core agri-cultural development work and measure nutritional impact. This fact sheet is produced as part of ACDI/VOCA’s ongoing learn-ing agenda. It is one in a series designed to be a practical and informative resource for staff on the nutritional value of crops

and on leverage points within the value chains for maximizing nutritional impact.

Introduction

L egumes are a classifica-tion of plants that in-cludes peanuts, ground-

nuts and pulses such as peas (chick, pigeon, etc.), beans (kidney, soy, etc.) and lentils. Le-gumes are a nutritionally signifi-cant source of iron, zinc, dietary fiber, folate, and dietary protein.1 The levels of iron and zinc in legumes are similar to those in

meats, poultry and fish. Because legumes also fix nitrogen into the soil as they grow, replenish-ing critical nutrients lost during production of staple crops and improving soil health, they are also of significant agronomic value. This is especially valuable for smallholder farmers, who frequently struggle to maximize crop yields due to declining soil health after many years of intensive use on limited land-holdings. For populations with a cereal-based diet, legumes are a low-cost way to complement the protein profile of staple foods such as rice and maize. Legumes such as peanut and chickpea are also used as the primary ingredi-ent for ready-to-use supplemen-tary or therapeutic foods in feed-ing programs for malnourished children.

There is a wide variety of legumi-nous crops. This fact sheet uses beans, soybeans, cowpeas and peanuts as selected examples to raise awareness about the nutri-tional profiles of legumes and to assist practitioners in selecting legumes for nutrition-sensitive value chain development. It clos-es with recommended interven-tions along legume value chains that can maximize household-level nutritional impact.

Nutrition Integration Fact Sheet

» Nutrition Integration Fact Sheet

LEGUMES

Photo

Nutritional Consider-ations in Legume Value Chain SystemsAgriculture practitioners often focus on increasing a crop’s nutritional benefits through production-level interventions, yet many additional opportuni-ties arise when a crop is viewed in the context of broader, inte-grated systems (such as inputs, support services, marketing, pro-duction, storage, etc.) that form the entire value chain system. A simple value chain represent-

ing a legume’s path “from farm to fork” is shown below with sample interventions to improve nutrition at each stage. Some of these examples are discussed in greater detail in the text that follows.

Note: A comprehensive, nutri-tion-sensitive value chain system approach to development con-siders the potential nutritional impact of bottlenecks in the en-abling environment and support services (e.g., transport, finance, packaging, etc.) and takes into account the nature of linkages,

relationships and governance in the value chain system. This is represented in the graphic below, but because this intro-ductory fact sheet is intended for application in a diverse array of market environments, ACDI/VOCA has targeted the discus-sion that follows along the core value chain path. For more information on the value chain approach, see http://microlinks.kdid.org/vcwiki.

Crop Nutritional Profile

Beans (e.g., black, kidney, navy)

Most beans (with the exception of green beans and sugar peas) are nutritionally rich, especially in protein and iron, and are a good source of dietary fiber and complex carbohydrates. Beans also contain large amounts of folate, calcium, zinc and other micronutrients. However, the body’s absorption of these minerals is compromised by the presence of fiber and other chemicals in beans. Absorption of iron from beans can be increased by consuming them with a source of vita-min C (e.g., from fruits and vegetables), or with small amounts of meat. When beans and grains are served together in dishes like beans and rice, or lentils and maize, they provide a complete protein profile, containing all essential amino acids. Although some B vitamins are lost in preparation, cooked dry beans retain more than 70 percent of these vitamins after hot soaking and cooking.

Soybeans Soybean is typically grown as an input into feed for animals and soybean oil for human consump-tion. Soybean oil is considered more healthful than palm oil or peanut oil, and it is an important source of omega-3 fatty acid, an essential fatty acid that is important for maternal and child health. When eaten as a bean, soybean is a complete protein nearly equivalent to the protein quality of meat, milk and eggs.

Cowpeas and Pigeon Peas

Cowpeas and pigeon peas are a good source of micronutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin C, B vitamins, iron and calcium. Like other legumes, cowpeas have a high-quality protein profile. Both cowpea and pigeon pea are good additions to the staple-based meal (e.g., rice, maize or other cereals) because they complement the protein profile and supply iron. Most importantly, cowpeas are relatively free of the kind of metabolites that prevent absorption of the beans’ full nutritional value. Cowpeas can be consumed in different stages of maturation. The immature seed pods are boiled and eaten as a vegetable. The mature seeds can be cooked with other foods or ground into flour to make a variety of cowpea products.

Peanuts Peanuts are rich in protein, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and energy. Peanuts do not provide a complete protein but can easily be complemented by rice, bread or other carbohydrates. Un-like some beans and peas, peanuts are also high in fats and can be used for oil production.

Nutritional Profiles

•Better trade regulations and standards on biofortification, aflatoxin•Public investments in R&D

Regional/Global Enabling Environment

International retailers

•Public investments in R&D

Exporters

End user: household consumer

End user: animal feed and nonfood users

National retailers

National Enabling Environment

Cross‐cutting service

•Improved finance flow through chain: e.g., to processors for consumer

Processors

Wholesalers

•Consumption of legumes with rice, maize or other cereals to obtain a complete protein profile

service providers (e.g.,

financial services, extension, t t

e.g., to processors for fortification; to input suppliers for legume promos and biofortified seed trials; to producers, esp. women for input

Producers

profile•Education and behavior change to deliver key nutrition messages

transport, storage)

women, for input purchases

•Integration of nutrition education into extension services (including SMS)

Input suppliers •Intercropping or rotation of legumes and maize•Improved post‐harvest and home storage to reduce loss and aflatoxin

d l d

•Promotion of fortification of oils•Improved drying and storage practices to extend shelf life and reduce aflatoxin

services (including SMS)

•Improved access to legume seeds, inputs and biofortified seeds•Education of input agents on nutritional benefits of legumes

to extend shelf life and reduce aflatoxin•Improvedlinkages for value‐added processing

Figure 1: Nutritional Considerations in Legume Value Chain Systems

Input SupplyLinkages with Input Suppliers: Many input providers already know of the agronomic benefits of legumes, but development practitioners can work to edu-cate rural agents and retailers about the nutritional benefits as well, especially where rural input networks are more robust. These agents can then become a conduit for consumer educa-tion and they can use nutritional messaging to drive sales. At demonstration plots or “field days,” input suppliers can also

demonstrate the dual agronomic and nutritional benefits of rotat-ing and intercropping legumes with staples (for example, see Production below). Where biofortified seeds are available, practitioners can facilitate link-ages between input companies and biofortified seed suppliers so that they can begin stocking the product and receive training on proper usage.

Biofortified Seeds: Many re-search organizations and agri-cultural colleges have invested significantly in developing bio-

fortified seeds. All bean varieties are not created equal in terms of nutritional value: The perfor-mance of a particular variety is influenced by climate, environ-ment, soil condition and plant-ing techniques. Iron-fortified beans are under development for use in the Congo and Rwan-da by HarvestPlus. Mineral bio-fortification in beans is advanta-geous because the high baseline iron content allows initial breed-ing attempts to be much more successful than in cereals. Unlike many cereals that are polished before eating, which results

in significant loss of nutrients, beans are consumed whole and conserve most of their nutritional content. Climbing beans are an ideal biofortified variety for smallholders, because of their high yield in small space, large grain, good nitrogen fixation, weed suppression and suitabil-ity for various cropping systems (e.g., intercropping with maize).

Production and Post-Harvest HandlingIntercropping and Rotation Planting: Legumes transfer fixed nitrogen to the soil. They can be intercropped with cereals as a way to increase yields through improved soil health. Legumes are ideal intercropping plants with cereals such as maize, rice, sorghum and millet, as well as some vegetables. Two particu-larly beneficial combinations for both intercropping and rotation planting are profiled to the left:

» Beans, Maize and Squash Intercropping2: Maize and beans are nutritionally and ecologically complementary. Established maize provides stalks for climbing beans, which fix nitrogen to the soil that maize utilizes. When squash is added, this “poly-cropping” system is tradition-ally called “Three Sisters” in Central America; the overall yields for the three crops are greater when they are grown together than when they are grown separately. The leaves of beans and squash vines help retain moisture in the soil. Concurrent production allows

households to access a more-complete nutritional profile in their meals: Beans are rich in the essential amino acids (leucine and lysine) that are deficient in maize, while maize is high in some essential ami-no acids that are deficient in beans (sulfur-containing amino acids). Beans also provide the vitamin niacin, which is very low in maize. Squash is an excellent source of carotenes, the plant form of vitamin A.

» Cowpea/Pigeon Pea In-tercropping and Rotation : Cowpea and pigeon pea are ideal for companion-planting systems with staple cereals, especially intercropping with maize. Peas also intercrop or rotate with vegetables like broccoli, carrots, tomato and pepper. They are also suitable as a pulse crop only grown in rotation with maize, sorghum and millet. Cowpea/pigeon peas are affordable and valuable addi-tions to staple meals as they complement cereals’ protein and micronutrient profile. Pigeon pea also has multiple uses as a flour additive and animal feed additive.

Aflatoxins4: Peanuts are espe-cially susceptible to alfatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin, a fun-gus that infects crops in the field and in storage, can cause liver failure, chronic disease, cancer and even death. Exposure is also associated with stunting and de-layed development in children. It is a serious problem in sub-Saha-ran Africa in many crops, such as maize, and unacceptable levels

Case Study: Legume System and Child HealthContext: A three-year participato-ry research project in Mzimba Dis-trict, Northern Malawi. The area is characterized by high levels of young child malnutrition and a monotonous diet with maize as the primary staple. A variety of legumes are grown in the region. Soils are deficient in nitrogen and input use is low.

Pilots:

• Maize intercropped with pigeon pea

• Pigeon pea intercropped with soybean, then rotated with maize

• Pigeon pea intercropped with groundnut, then rotated with maize

• Mucuna pruriens (velvet bean) rotated with maize

• Tephrosia vogelii inter-cropped with maize

Progress/qualitative results:

• Participating farmers devel-oped indicators and assessed legume systems with regard to effects on soil fertility, food security, child nutrition, and gender and other social issues.

• Farmers’ motivation for adoption was to provide fam-ily food, not to enhance soil fertility or to sell.

• Choice of legume system reflected their role in filling seasonal food gaps.

• Majority of committee members were women, who cited link with child nutrition as their motive for joining. Discussion of gender role changes met with resistance from men and grandmothers, but a focus on child health served to neutralize conflicts.

» Nuts (cashews, almonds) and some legumes (soybeans, gro

of the toxin is often grounds for buyers to reject crops or offer low prices. Aflatoxin control involves promoting good agricultural practices, such as the following:

» Early planting prevents peanuts from maturing dur-ing periods of low rainfall, which stresses a plant and encourages growth of the fungus on ripening crops.

» The use of hand-operated or mechanized peanut-shelling equipment can ease the task of shelling. However the practice of moistening the unshelled nuts to make them easier to shell results in higher contamination of aflatoxin.

» Poor storage conditions increase the risk of contami-nation. Peanuts should be sold or eaten immediately after shelling to avoid poor household-level storage.

Storage5: Improved storage and storage techniques can increase availability of nutritious foods during the lean season, reduce food safety concerns such as aflatoxin, and increase marketability and trade of nutri-tious foods. For example, green pigeon pea is highly perishable and few farmer groups have the technical facility for storing green pigeon peas6. There is also a growing export market for green pigeon pea, which at the moment remains largely inacces-sible to smallholder farmers due to lack of proper handling and cold storage facilities.

Fortified Processing and PackagingFortified Processing: Fortifying vegetable and peanut oils7,8 can improve access to fat-soluble vi-tamins such as A, D and E, which can be uniformly distributed in oil. This permits easy and cost-effective addition of nutrients without the need for elaborate equipment. The stability of vi-tamin A is greater in oils than in any other food and oil facilitates the absorption of vitamin A in the body. Crude vegetable oils are a rich source of vitamin E but during processing, much of the vitamin is lost. Vitamin E can be added to refined oil as a nutrient or as an antioxidant, preventing rancidity and oxidation (which damages nutrients, shortens shelf life, and corrupts flavors and odors) of other compounds in the oil.

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have some level of do-mestic oil processing but few fortify vegetable oils. Vegetable oil companies can become de-velopment partners by fortifying oils and marketing to consumers while still earning the economic benefits of producing oil. Com-mercial processers in West Africa have begun fortifying oils and of-fer a good example for the rest of the continent. In West Africa, it is estimated that the total cost of fortifying oil with vitamin A at a level of 30 IU per gram of oil is $1.95/ton, which is less than 1 percent of the cost of oil produc-tion. Studies show that fortifying margarine does not alter its flavor and products made from fortified soybean oil are not distinguish-

able from unfortified ones.

Packaging: From a nutritional perspective, packaging is an im-portant supporting service in this value chain: To maintain vitamin A activity, fortified oil needs to be packaged in light-protected (e.g., dark-colored), sealed containers. The availability and affordability of such packaging material will impact the cost of marketing forti-fied oils that retain their nutritional value.

End Markets and the Enabling Environment:Consumer Awareness: Nutri-tion education through behavior change communication is neces-sary to ensure meal preparers know how to combine crops to provide the most nutritional bal-anced meals for their families, especially during critical growth periods such as pregnancy, lac-tation and 6-23 months of age.

Product Diversification: Le-gumes such as cowpeas can be made into multiple prod-ucts: They can be ground into flour to make local foods (e.g., fried cakes, porridge); canned and sold in larger markets; and added to cereal (flours) as supplements or as additives to livestock feeds. Peanuts are versatile—they can be made into peanut butter, various peanut snacks, peanut oil, peanut paste (an important ingredient for many food products) and the pri-mary ingredient for supplemen-tary foods/therapeutic foods.

Enabling Environment: Better control of aflatoxin in peanuts

» Please do not reproduce this content without permission.

1 See the Nutrition Primer, part of this series, for additional information on macro and micronutrients and their affect on health and nutrition.

2 Beans and Maize: Nutritionally and Ecologically Complementary http://dp.biology.dal.ca/vigs/beansnmaize.html

3 Vegetable Rotations, Successions and Intercropping http://lubbock.tamu.edu/horticulture/docs/vegrote.html

4 Purging Malawi’s Peanuts of Deadly Aflatoxin http://www.globalenvision.org/library/6/1822

5 The potential of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L..) Millsp) in Africa http://www.doh.gov.za/department/foodcontrol/docs/nmp.html

6 The potential of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) in Africa http://www.zef.de/module/register/media/63c0_narf_157.pdf

7 Food Fortification in West Africa Assessment of opportunities and strategies

8 http://www.dsm.com/en_US/downloads/dnp/51609_fort_basics_oils.pdf for more information.

and good monitoring proce-dures for production and pro-cessing provide opportunities to market products for use in supplementary foods and school feeding programs as well as for export to the international markets.

Key MessagesEating a diverse diet improves nutritional status, and diversi-fied production and processing strategies reduce risk for small-holder farmers and improves market opportunities. Agricultur-al development projects should highlight this dual benefit of di-versification in both production and consumption and consider the entire value chain system in designing interventions. Key messages include the following:

1. Legumes are an excellent source of protein, iron and zinc, and specific crops are rich in vitamins, folate and calcium; when eaten with sta-ple foods like maize and rice, legumes provide a complete protein profile and are more cost-effective than meat.

2. Because they are nitrogen-fixing plants, legumes can be intercropped and rotated with maize and rice to im-prove soil health.

3. Pests can be controlled with simple storage improve-ments. For example, turn-ing bean sacks two-to-three times a day can stop a weevil infestation.

4. Aflatoxin contamination can be prevented by early plant-ing, improved shelling tech-

niques and storage/quick sales. This keeps consumers healthier and improves the marketability of groundnuts.

5. There are many ways to process peanuts (e.g., flour, oil, paste, snack foods), and most can be done on a small scale. This provides many op-tions to increase consump-tion to improve nutrition and provides additional market opportunities for small pro-ducers.

6. Producer and consumer education is key to increased consumption of nutritious foods. Using proper incen-tive strategies, other market actors (e.g., input suppliers, retailers, etc.) can also play an important role in educa-tion and behavior change.

ACDI/VOCA is an economic development organization that fosters broad-based economic growth, raises living standards and creates vibrant communities. ACDI/VOCA has worked in 145 countries since 1963.

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In recognition of the relation-ship between nutrition, agricul-tural science and market forces, the development community is moving toward increasingly integrated value chain devel-opment programming. Prac-titioners now must include nutritional considerations into core agricultural development work and measure nutritional impact. This fact sheet is pro-duced as part of ACDI/VOCA’s ongoing learning agenda. It is one in a series designed to be a practical and informa-tive resource for staff on the nutritional value of crops and on leverage points within the value chains for maximizing nutritional impact.

Introduction

Maize is the primary source of daily ca-loric intake for many

populations around the world. In Kenya, for example, over 85 percent of the population depends on maize as their main source of calories. Yet calories (energy) alone are not sufficient to sustain a healthy body and maize has limited nutritional value. Nonetheless, maize—including maize flour

and maize meal—is critical to smallholder farming livelihoods and the food security of both rural and urban households. It is a significant contributor to the economic and social devel-opment of many sub-Saharan African countries. Accordingly, the maize value chain is given great attention by a variety of donors in countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda. Because of maize’s significance as a staple commodity, it is im-portant to understand its nutri-tional profile, know what foods complement its deficiencies, and follow practices to either maximize its nutritional benefits or limit nutrient loss.

This fact sheet identifies the nutritional problems facing populations that consume maize as their primary energy source and recommends ways to improve nutritional benefits along the maize value chain.

Nutritional Profile 1 Most maize-based diets, par-ticularly in Africa, lack the “supplementary foods” neces-sary to meet the body’s protein and micronutrient needs when maize is consumed in large quantities. Maize-consuming populations are nutritionally better off when maize is con-sumed with a sufficient amount



MAIZE

The quality of protein in maize is low—lower even than that of other cereal grains. It is deficient in some essential amino acids (lysine and tryptophan) and contains an excess of other amino acids (those containing sulfur) that negatively influence the body’s protein utilization. Maize lacks many vita-mins and minerals such as B vitamins, zinc and iron.

•Better trade regulations and standards on biofortification, aflatoxin•Consideration of effects of import/export bans•Public investments in R&D



•Public investments in R&D

Exporters


End user: animal feed and nonfood users

Retailers



•Improved finance flow through chain, e.g., to processors for consumer

Processors

Wholesalers

•Maize eaten with pulses for complete protein profile•Addition of vegetables to increase dietary diversity•Addition of eggs to meals of children under 5



e.g., to processors for fortification; to input suppliers for orange maize promos and biofortified seed trials; to producers, esp. women for input

Producers•Intercropping or rotation of maize and legumes•Mixed home gardening/

•Addition of eggs to meals of children under 5•Education and behavior change to deliver key nutrition messages

transport, storage)

women, for input purchases

•Integration of nutrition d ti i t t i

Input suppliers

Mixed home gardening/ integrated farming systems•Biocontrol of aflatoxin through biocontrol pesticide

•Improved supplier access to sources of

•Fortification of maize flour/meal with iron and vitamin A•Improved drying and storage practices

education into extension services (including SMS)

•Improved supplier access to sources of biofortified seeds (e.g., orange maize)•Increased demand from consumers•Education of agents on benefits of legumes, veggies intercropped with maize

•Improved drying and storage practices to better preserve maize and reduce aflatoxin•Proper disposal of contaminated grains by burning, burying

of high-quality protein foods (e.g., legumes, milk, seeds, poultry, fish and meats) and micronutrient-rich vegetables (e.g., green leafy vegetables). For example, protein-rich le-gumes (e.g., beans, peas and peanuts) are a relatively good source of lysine and tryptophan but are low in sulfur amino acids. Therefore, the legume protein is a strong complement to maize protein. A meal made up of one-quarter legumes and three-quarters maize would provide a good balance.2 Green

leafy vegetables such as sweet potato leaves, spinach, and col-lard greens are rich in iron, zinc and vitamin A and increase the absorption of usable protein in a maize and bean diet.

Nutritional Consider-ations in a Maize Value Chain SystemAgriculture practitioners often focus on increasing a crop’s nutritional benefits through production-level interventions,

yet many additional opportuni-ties arise when a crop is viewed in the context of the broader, integrated systems (such as inputs, support services, mar-keting, production, storage, etc.) that together create the entire value chain system. A simple value chain represent-ing maize’s path “from farm to fork” is shown below with sample interventions to im-prove nutrition at each stage. Some of these examples are discussed in greater detail in the text that follows.

Note: A comprehensive nutri-tion-sensitive, value chain sys-tem approach to development considers the potential nutri-tional impact of bottlenecks

Figure 1: Nutritional Considerations in a Maize Value Chain System

in the enabling environment (e.g., import/export bans, price controls, food safety stan-dards), support services (e.g., transport, finance, packaging, etc.) and the nature of linkages, relationships, and governance in the value chain system. This is represented in the graphic below, but because this intro-ductory fact sheet is intended for application in a diverse array of market environments, ACDI/VOCA has targeted the discussion that follows along the core value chain path. For more information on the value chain approach, see http://mi-crolinks.kdid.org/vcwiki.

Input SupplyLinkages with Input Suppliers: Low maize yields on small-holder production systems are a recurrent concern throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Because of this, many agricultural value chain programs target inef-ficiencies in input supply sys-tems. At the same time, prac-titioners can work to educate rural agents and retailers about improved maize varieties. At demonstration plots or “field days,” input suppliers can also demonstrate the dual agro-nomic and nutritional benefits of rotating and intercropping maize with legumes (for ex-ample, see Production below). Where biofortified seeds are available, practitioners can fa-cilitate linkages between input companies and biofortified seed suppliers so that they can

begin stocking the product and receive training.

Biofortified Seeds: Orange maize is a biofortified variety with a high beta-carotene (plant-source vitamin A) con-tent. This variety has been introduced in African countries such as Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Re-search on high-yielding adap-tation of orange maize and its consumer acceptance are still ongoing.

Production, Post-Harvest Handling and StorageIntercropping and Rotation Planting: Maize and legumes (e.g., soybean, cowpea, pigeon pea, beans, groundnuts, etc.) complement each other’s pro-tein makeup and can provide a complete protein profile when eaten together3. African cook-ing combines both maize and beans/peas in many dishes, and traditional farming also practices planting maize and legumes together. Legumes fix the nitrogen to the soil for maize utilization, and maize provides stalks for beans to climb. Growing maize and legumes in the same garden/farm is agronomically effective, nutritionally beneficial and cul-turally appropriate. Intercrop-ping examples can be found in the Legume Fact Sheet.

Integrated Farming Systems: Integrated farming systems such as home gardening can

meet most of a rural house-hold’s basic dietary needs and perform many others functions, such as supply feed for animals used for consumption and on the farm.4 A good home gar-den might include fruit and nut trees, cereals, vegetables and small domesticated livestock such as chicken. Companion planting (maize and legumes) ensures long-term supply of staple foods. Trees and veg-etables provide a continuous source of nutritious additions. Chickens and livestock provide vital sources of protein and micronutrients through their meat, milk and eggs. Eggs are excellent source of high-quality protein, healthy unsatu-rated fats, vitamin A and iron. One egg contains 13 essential vitamins and minerals needed to promote the proper devel-opment of children ages 5 and under. Milk is particularly linked to linear growth in children, thus playing an important role in the reduction of stunting. Maize and legumes are also good feeding grains for livestock,

“Maize and legumes complement each other’s protein make-up and can provide a complete protein profile when eaten together.”

which in return provides organ-ic waste materials as a source of fertilizer. Maize constitutes over half of inputs into poultry feeds, mainly because its en-ergy source is starch, which is readily available as energy and is easily digested by poultry5.

Aflatoxin6,7: Aflatoxin is a significant problem in maize, often due to poor post-harvest and storage conditions at the household from homestead production. A fungus (Asper-gillus parasiticus) that infects crops in the field and in stor-age, it can cause liver failure, chronic disease, cancer and even death. Exposure is also associated with stunting and delayed development in chil-dren. As many buyers in formal maize markets test for aflatoxin levels, contaminated maize can result in rejections and loss of income. Contamination is pos-sible when no visible signs of fungus are present. Grains with aflatoxin must be disposed of immediately through burning or burying. Preventive practices include the following:

Production:

» Aflasafe™ is the first indig-enous biocontrol product in Africa. It is a biopesticide and contains four native nontoxic strains of Aspergil-lus flavus that outcompete and replace the toxin-pro-ducing strains, thus reduc-ing aflatoxin accumulation by up to 99 percent. Afla-safe has been approved in some African countries

(e.g., Nigeria). Biocontrol is thus far the most effective method available for pre-venting aflatoxin contamina-tion from crop development, through storage, until use.

Post-Harvest Handling:

» Ensure crop is not left on the ground or on bare soil, where fungal spores de-velop.

» Clean and sieve to remove broken kernels, foreign matter, and diseased and rotten grains. These attract moisture and pests leading to spoilage and/or fungal growth.

» Ensure crops are properly dried immediately after harvesting. Drying will not reverse the effect of poison in contaminated grains, but it may inhibit further growth of molds.

Storage:

» Clear pathways to allow for good air flow.

» Ensure timely pest control interventions.

» Ensure that grains are bagged in natural fiber bags for storage (not plas-tic).

Cooking, Animal Feeding and Disposal:

» Do not eat moldy grains or grains with any signs of fun-gal contamination. Cooking thoroughly will not eradi-

cate aflatoxin, because it is a poison not a pathogen.

» Feeding animals contami-nated grains is not advised because aflatoxin above certain levels also causes cancer and other diseases in animals.

Processing Milled maize flour or granu-lated maize meals are a major component of the African diet. As with all cereals, most micro-nutrients are concentrated in the outer layers of the grain; re-moving these layers in the mill-ing process results in the loss

of most vitamins and minerals. These losses, however, can be replaced through enrichment or fortification without affecting the quality or acceptability of foods made from maize flour or maize meal. Mandatory forti-fication of commercial maize flour is slowly becoming the standard in many African coun-tries.

Fortifying Maize8,9,10: Small-scale fortification adds mi-cronutrients to milled cereal products in mills with a capacity of less than one metric ton per hour using a diluted premix or “preblend” that can be added with or without special equip-ment. Premix is a commercially prepared blend of vitamins and minerals together with an inert carrier like starch to prevent interactions of these micronu-trients. The premixes used in large-scale mills are usually too concentrated to be used at the small mill level, thus it is diluted and called a “preblend,” typi-cally by blending with a cereal. This is added either to the grain during milling or to the flour/meal after milling. Flour fortification programs should include appropriate quality assurance and quality control programs at mills to ensure proper blending and nutrient content.

End MarketsConsumer Awareness: Nutri-tion education through be-havior change communication is necessary to ensure meal

preparers know how to com-bine crops to provide the most nutritionally balanced meals for their families, especially during critical growth periods such as pregnancy, lactation and the first 6-23 months of age.

Product Diversification: Maize is traditionally the main ingre-dient in many weaning foods in Africa.11 Baby cereals with improved grain quality (such as decreased aflatoxins) and added nutritional value can bring nutritional benefits as well as market opportunities. For example, low-cost, nutri-tious, well-balanced weaning foods rich in protein, energy and micronutrients can be de-veloped from locally available foods. One such food can be a blend of legume (groundnut and/or cowpea) and a fortified cereal (maize). Combinations like this can be easily adopted by food processors and made available in the market. Key RecommendationsEating a diverse diet improves nutritional status, and diversi-fied production and process-ing strategies reduce risk for smallholder farmers and improves market opportuni-ties. Agricultural development projects should highlight this dual benefit of diversification in production and consumption and consider the entire value chain system in designing inter-ventions. Key messages include the following:

Case Study: ACDI/VOCA’s Kenya Maize Develop-ment ProgramKMDP is a good example of integrating nutrition and food safety considerations into mar-ket-driven value chain develop-ment. Interventions include:

Fortified maize: KMDP devel-oped maize meal formulations fortified for different consumer groups (HIV/AIDS affected, lactating mothers, children)

Promotion of Intercropping: Additional crops (e.g., beans, peas, sweet potatoes, Irish po-tatoes, sorghum) are promoted as part of a diversified farm system.

Aflatoxin contamination reduction at production and handling levels: KMDP did a pilot project for the biocontrol pesticide Aflasafe, and con-ducted trainings on improving maize production, processing and storage practices to reduce aflatoxin contamination.

Staple cookbook with basic nutrition information: The project is developing the Kenya Culinary and Nutrition Cook-book, which has recipes using alternative staple foods as well as basic nutrition informa-tion on each dish. The cook-book encourages the modern Kenyan diet to appreciate the nutritional and therapeutic values of these alternative staple foods and thus to create market demand.

HIV/AIDS prevention: HIV/AIDS prevention education for youth and young people is incorporated into KMDP’s train-ing. KMDP sponsors activities like dramas and puppet shows demonstrating HIV/AIDS pre-vention and care techniques, including the importance of proper nutrition for people liv-ing with HIV/AIDS.

» Although an important source of calories, maize contains few micronutrients and low-quality protein; therefore it should be con-sumed with complementary foods such as legumes for protein and vegetables for micronutrients.

» Growing maize and le-gumes together is agro-nomically beneficial to both plants.

» Improved post-harvest

handling, storage and cook-ing can prevent aflatoxin contamination. This keeps consumers healthier and improves the marketability of maize

» Most of maize’s nutritional value is contained in the shell and lost during pro-cessing. Maize flour can be fortified using a pre-mix by small-scale and commer-cial processors alike. This infuses maize with essen-

tial nutrients and creates a value-added product for increased market opportu-nities.

» Producer and consumer education is key to increas-ing consumption of nutri-tious foods. Using proper incentive strategies, other market actors (e.g., input suppliers, retailers, etc.) can also play an important role in in education and behav-ior change.

1 Maize in human nutrition, FAO. http://www.fao.org/do-crep/T0395E/T0395E00.htm#Contents

2 Chapter 8 – Improvement of maize diets https://www.fao.org/docrep/T0395E/T0395EOc.htm

3 Intercropping with Maize in Sub-arid Regions. https://forest.mtu.edu/pcforestry/resources/studentprojects/Maize%20Intercropping%20in20East%20Africa.pdf

4 UNICEF Home Garden Handbook. http://www.plant-trees.org/resources/infomaterials/english/agroforestry_technologies/Unicef%20home%20garden%20handbook.pdf

5 Low-tannin sorghum, while not commonly used in feed, can also be used as a substitute for maize in feed.

6 Aflatoxin contaminated maize picture: http://blog.cimmyt.org/index.php/2011/02/alleviating-aflatoxin-in-africa

7 AflaControl, IFPRI. http://programs/ifpri.org/afla/aflalinks.asp

8 For additional information, see: Fortifying Africa’s Future. http://www.fortaf.org/index.htm; The Micronutrient Initia-tive Fortification Handbook. 2004. http://www.sph.emory.edu/wheatflour/KEYDOCS/MI_Fort_handbook.pdf; and Small Scale Mill Fortification Manual. http://www.fortaf.org/files/SSFJan2005.pdf

9 The Micronutrient Initiative Fortification Handbook, 2004. http://www.sph.emory.edu/wheatflour/KEYDOCS/MI_Fort_handbook.pdf

10 Small Scale Mill Fortification Manual. http://www.fortaf.org/files/SSFJan2005.pdf

11 Weaning foods in West Africa: Nutritional problems and possible solutions. http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/food/V191e/ch06.htm




T he U.S. government is increasingly asking de-velopment practitioners

to integrate nutritional consid-erations into core value chain development and to measure nutritional impact. This primer was developed to facilitate these efforts. It provides an overview of the major nutrients essen-tial to good health, lists food sources of these nutrients and describes the health implications of nutritional deficiencies.

Eating a wide variety of foods needed for growth and mainte-nance—including protein, carbo-hydrates, fats, vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants—keeps the human body strong and helps prevent disease. Both micronu-trients (e.g., vitamins, minerals) and macronutrients (e.g., fats, carbohydrates, protein) are essential. Macronutrients are needed in large amounts for normal growth and develop-ment. Micronutrients are needed in very small quantities for nor-mal growth and development.

MacronutrientsCarbohydrates—Source of En-ergy: Carbohydrates contribute most of the energy (i.e., calories) in human diets. Carbohydrates

should comprise 45–65 percent of the daily calories for maxi-mum nutrition. The body turns carbohydrates into sugars, which are used as fuel for energy. In addition, some carbohydrates, known as complex carbohy-drates, are high in dietary fiber, which plays an important role in cholesterol control, blood sugar stabilization and bowel function improvement. Complex carbo-hydrates include whole grains, brown rice, and fruits and veg-etables.

Carbohydrates are found in the following foods:

» Fruits and vegetables » Breads, cereals and other

grains (e.g., rice, maize, wheat, sorghum)

» Breastmilk, animal milk and milk products (e.g., butter, cheese)

» Foods containing added sugars (e.g., cakes, cookies and sugar-sweetened bever-ages)1

Proteins—Source of Amino Acids: Protein is an essential component of muscle tissue, organs, enzymes, blood, anti-bodies and neurotransmitters in the brain. Proteins are made from amino acids, which are the building blocks of life, and regu-late every biochemical reaction

in the body, such as metabolism. Protein intake should be 10–35 percent of total daily calories.

There are two types of protein: complete and incomplete. Ani-mal protein sources are consid-ered complete (i.e., they contain all essential amino acids); plant-based proteins are incomplete (i.e., they do not have all essen-tial amino acids by themselves). For populations following a plant-based diet, it is necessary to combine at least two plant protein sources to obtain a complete protein profile, for ex-ample, rice and beans or peanut butter and bread. A nondiverse diet, such as one consisting only of rice, may fulfill caloric needs but leave out protein or other essential micronutrients from other food sources, leading to malnutrition. Protein is found in the following foods:

» Eggs, meats, poultry and fish » Legumes (e.g., dry beans,

peas, nuts, seeds) » Milk and milk products » Grains, some vegetables and

some fruits (provide small amounts)

Fats: Fats are also an essential part of the diet and should com-prise 20–35 percent of the daily calories for maximum nutrition. Fats play a vital role in maintaining

A Nutrition


PRIMER

healthy skin and hair, insulat-ing body organs against shock, maintaining body temperature, delivering fat-soluble vitamins and promoting healthy cell func-tion. Fat is found in the following foods:

» Cooking oil, coconut oil, red palm oil

» Nuts (cashews, almonds) and some legumes (soybeans, groundnuts)

» Butter or margarine » Meats, fish and dairy products

MicronutrientsMicronutrients include vitamins and minerals. They do not pro-vide energy but are vital to many body functions, including growth and brain development. Defi-ciencies in the three micronutri-ents discussed below cause the most significant public health concerns and are priorities for the majority of food security pro-grams. The dietary requirements of each nutrient vary by age and life stage (e.g., pregnancy, infancy, prepuberty).

Vitamin A and Vitamin A Defi-ciency: Vitamin A plays a role in vision, immune function, promo-tion of growth and skin health, among other things. Night blind-ness is the best-known symptom of vitamin A deficiency. Other health consequences include poor growth, higher morbidity and increased vulnerability to in-fections. Vitamin A supplemen-tation is widely promoted for women and for children under 5 years of age. Vitamin A is found in the following foods:

» Livers of beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish

» Orange vegetables, fruits (e.g., orange flesh sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, papaya)

» Dark green leafy vegetables (e.g., kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli)

Zinc and Zinc Deficiency: Zinc is an essential mineral. It is in-volved in the metabolism of car-bohydrates, synthesis of energy protein and transport of carbon dioxide. It is also important in wound healing, brain function and bone growth. Zinc is found in the following foods:

» Oysters » Red meats and poultry » Whole grains » Dairy products

Zinc deficiency causes diarrhea, growth retardation, loss of ap-petite and impaired immune functions. Zinc status is very difficult to measure and thus zinc deficiency prevalence is rarely reported, though it is generally thought to be high. Zinc supple-mentation, with or without other micronutrients, has been widely used in public health interven-tion to control diarrhea and prevent malnutrition.

Iron and Anemia: Iron is critical for brain development and func-tion, regulation of body temper-ature, muscle activity and me-tabolism. Iron deficiency results in nutritional anemia, which is a syndrome caused by malnutri-tion. In addition to anemia, other functional impairments include decreased immunity, reduced resistance to infection, increased

morbidity and mortality, and de-creased work performance. Iron is found in the following foods:

» Eggs and meats » Dark green leafy vegetables

(e.g., kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli)

» Legumes (e.g., beans, lentils) » Whole grains » Enriched food products (e.g.,

fortified flours)

MalnutritionMalnutrition covers a broad range of clinical conditions caused by an insufficient or poorly balanced diet, disease, faulty digestion and poor utiliza-tion of foods by the body. Both obesity and undernutrition are types of malnutrition. The inci-dence of obesity is rising and now affects both urban popula-tions and the rural poor in many developing countries. Poor household diet and adult inac-tivity has led to situations with undernourished children and obese adults in the same house-hold, with both suffering from the same underlying vitamin and mineral deficiencies. With in-creased obesity rates, diabetes, heart disease and cancers are also on the rise.

Malnutrition that results from undernutrition is a leading cause of death in young children in de-veloping countries. Underlying causes of undernutrition include:

» Insufficient access to food » Poor maternal and child car-

ing practices » Inability, typically as a result

of disease, of the body to

utilize food properly » Poor water quality and sani-

tation » Inadequate access to health

services

Stunting: Stunting is reflected in the linear growth (or lack there-of) of a child under the age of 5 and measures long-term growth faltering, referred to as “chronic” malnutrition. Stunted children are too short for their age. Stunt-ing develops over a long period of time as a result of inadequate dietary intake (e.g., insufficient protein, calories or micronutri-ents, particularly vitamin A and zinc) and/or repeated infections. It is irreversible; a stunted child will become a stunted adult. Worldwide, stunting preva-lence increases as children age, reaching a plateau around 24 months.2 The 1,000-day period

from pregnancy through age 2 is the critical window of oppor-tunity to shape a child’s lifelong health and development. After this, the damage is irreversible. “The irreversible physical and cognitive damage from stunting leads to lower adult productivity and enormous long-term eco-nomic loss to societies.3”

Interventions include increasing dietary diversity and improving feeding practices, such as Exclu-sive Breast Feeding (EBF) from immediately after birth until 6 months of age.

Greater access to and utilization of nutritious foods for pregnant women and children during the first 5 years of life and pro-motion of EBF and continued breast feeding until 2 years of age are key to sustainably re-ducing stunting in a population. In addition to increased health care access, improved water and sanitation, and improved child caring practices, stunting can also be alleviated by improving diet diversity through agricul-tural interventions.

Wasting: Wasting reflects cur-rent nutritional status and is measured us-ing the ratio of a child’s cur-rent weight to current height. It is the most life threaten-ing of the three types of malnutri-tion. Wasted children are too light for their height or

length. The condition is caused by inadequate intake of total calories (carbohydrates, protein and micronutrients), resulting in rapid weight loss or failure to gain weight.

Wasting and acute malnutrition are often used interchangeably. Wasting can be reversed with improved diet and the treatment of underlying illnesses. Both children and adults can become severely wasted.

Underweight: An underweight child is too light for his/her age. Children may become under-weight because of wasting or stunting or both. An under-weight child may suffer from acute or chronic malnutrition or both.

Underweight is measured in children using weight for age. Underweight is used less often than stunting and wasting in measuring child malnutrition in developing countries. Body Mass Index (BMI) is often used to measure underweight during pregnancy. Global Acute Mal-nutrition (GAM) is a population-level indicator defined by wast-ing or the presence of bilateral

You cannot identify stunting simply by looking at a child. The girl on the left is 2 years, 2 months old; the girl on the right is 5 years old.

Edema starts from feet and extends upward to other parts of the body. If a shallow print or pit persists after the thumbs press and lift, the child has oedema. It cannot be told by just looking.

pitting edema.4 GAM rates are used by health and nutrition practitioners to gauge the se-riousness of a nutritional emer-gency and educate program-matic responses required.

While prevention of stunting and underweight through diet diver-sity may be the main contribu-tion of agricultural development programs in addressing chronic

malnutrition, children who are acutely malnourished need to be referred for treatment. Monitor-ing GAM rates along with food security indicators can be used to forecast and possibly prevent a major nutrition emergency. The GAM rate classification is as follows:

» >10% = Serious Emergency » >15% = Critical Emergency

» >30% = Famine

GAM is a combination of mod-erate acute malnutrition (MAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM). MAM + SAM = GAM. MAM = Weight For Height (WFH) ≥ -3 z-score and < -2 z-score. SAM=WFH <3 z-score.


1 Caution: added sugar may lead to health problems such as dental cavi-ties and obesity.

2 Robert E Black, Lindsay H Allen, Zulfiqar A Bhutta et. al. “Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health conse-quences.” The Lancet , January 2008, Vol. 371, Issue 9608

3 Sally Grantham-McGregor, Yin Bun Cheung, Paul Glewwe, Linda Richter, Barbara Strupp, “Developmental po-tential in the first 5 years for children in developing countries.” The Lancet, January 2007, Vol. 369, pages 8-9

4 Oedema or edema is swelling caused by excess fluid trapped in the body’s tissues. It is a sign of severe malnutrition.

This primer was developed by ACDI/VOCA in July 2011. It was prepared by Haoying (Echo) Wang in conjunc-tion with Enterprise Development Portfolio and the Food Security Tech-nical Unit.



Additional ResourcesIntegrating Nutrition into Feed the Future (FtF): FtF is the U.S. govern-ment’s global hunger and food security initiative. http://agrilinks.kdid.org/library/nutrition-integration-feed-future-presentation

Nourishing the Planet: A great (and ever-evolving) resource on a variety of indigenous plants with practical information on their agronomic and nutritious properties. http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/tag/indigenous-vegetable/

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2020 Vision Ini-tiative. Focuses on “leveraging agriculture for improved nutrition and health,” with several excellent papers and case studies. Especially relevant are: “Value Chains for Nutrition” and “Turning Economic Growth into Nutrition-Sensitive Growth.” http://www.ifpri.org/publications/results/taxonomy%3A933.6374

Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA 2) and Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Projects are two USAID-funded projects that have produced health and nutrition assessment and measurement tools, case studies, and training materials. Most relevant for programs implement-ing direct health and nutrition components. www.iycn.org and http://www.fantaproject.org/

1,000 Days Partnership and Scaling Up Nutrition Framework (SUN) are two influential global collaboration efforts focused on reduced undernutri-tion. Primarily for health practitioners. http://www.thousanddays.org/

FAO–Corporate Document Repository: This Nutrition and Consumer Protection link takes you to a repository of nutrition and commodity-specific studies, research and cases. http://www.fao.org/documents/en/Nutri-tion%20and%20consumer%20protection/topicsearch/8

Visit your Ministry of Health. Have your agronomist talk to health NGOs. Read the national nutrition strategy. Identify logical and value-adding points of leverage and coordination.


Introduction

Rice is the primary staple food of many sub-Sa-haran African countries.

It is the largest single source of calories in many West Afri-can countries (including Côte d‘Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bis-sau, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone),1 and while many do-mestic rice industries struggle to compete on price and taste with imports, rice—grown commercially and for subsis-

tence—is important for its impact on economic growth and food security as well. Not surprisingly, rice was selected as a value chain of national focus by over half of the Feed the Future priority countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Mozam-bique. However, milled rice has relatively low nutritional value, and processing methods can greatly influence the amount of nutrients retained in the end product. Thus, a nutrition-sensitive approach to the rice value chain is very appropriate, as market development without such a perspective may achieve economic benefits but leave nutritional benefits uncertain.

This fact sheet identifies the nutritional profiles of different types of rice and recommends

ways to improve nutritional benefits at various stages of the rice value chain. Strate-gies to increase the nutritional benefits of rice-based diets can play an important role in alle-viating undernutrition in rural households, especially among women and children.

Rice—or any grain eaten alone—cannot supply all of the nutrients necessary for adequate nutrition. Micronutri-ent deficiencies are common in rice-consuming regions when rice makes up most of the daily diet. Animal products and fish are useful additions to a rice-based diet as they provide large amounts of high-quality protein and micronutri-ents. Legumes such as beans, groundnuts and lentils are also nutritional complements to a rice-based diet and help to complete the protein profile.3 Nuts and seeds are rich in energy, protein, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids (an essential fatty acid). And vegetables are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They supply the vitamin C, B vitamins and miner-als that are lacking in a rice diet. See Table 1 for profile.



RICE

•Consideration of effects of import/export policiesP ti f bli i t t i R&D



•Promotion of public investments in R&D

•Demand creation for fortified and more nutritious rice varieties

Exporters


Retailers



•Improved finance flow through chain:

f

Processors

Wholesalers

•Education and behavior change on nutritional benefits of different rice types C i f i i h l f l



e.g., to processors for fortification; to input suppliers for promos and trials of improved varieties; to producers, esp. women, for input

Producers

•Intercropping or rotation of rice

•Consumption of rice with legumes for complete protein profile•Addition of vegetables, eggs to increase dietary diversity

transport, storage)

purchases

•Integration of nutrition d ti i t t i

Input suppliers

Intercropping or rotation of rice and legumes, fish•Adoption of improved varieties

I d li f

•Increased awareness of nutritional implications of processing techniques

education into extension services (including SMS)

•Improved supplier access to sources of improved seeds (e.g. ,NERICA, Golden Rice)• Increased demand from consumers•Education of agents on nutritional benefits of legumes, fish rotated with rice

•Support for fortification of rice

Nutritional Consider-ations in a Rice Value Chain SystemAgriculture practitioners often focus on increasing a crop’s nutritional benefits through production-level interventions, yet many additional opportuni-ties arise when a crop is viewed in the context of the broader, integrated systems (such as in-puts, support services, market-ing, production, storage, etc.) that form the entire value chain system. A simple value chain

representing rice’s path “from farm to fork” is shown below with sample interventions to improve nutrition at each stage. Some of these examples are discussed in greater detail in the text that follows.

Note: A comprehensive nutri-tion-sensitive, value chain sys-tem approach to development considers the nutritional impact of bottlenecks in the enabling environment (e.g., import/ex-port bans, price controls, food safety standards), support ser-vices (e.g., transport, finance,

packaging, etc.) and the nature of linkages, relationships and governance in the value chain system. This is represented in the graphic below, but because this is introductory fact sheet is intended for application in a diverse array of market environ-ments, ACDI/VOCA has target-ed the discussion that follows along the core value chain path. For more information on the value chain approach, see http://microlinks.kdid.org/vcwiki.

See Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Nutritional Considerations in a Rice Value Chain System

Input SupplyLinkages with Input Suppliers: Many agricultural value chain programs target inefficiencies in input supply systems; At the same time, practitioners can educate rural agents and retailers about improved rice varieties, such as those profiled below. At demonstration plots or “field days,” input suppli-ers can also demonstrate the dual agronomic and nutritional benefits of rotating and inter-cropping rice with legumes, fish or vegetables (for example, see Production below). Where improved or biofortified seeds are available, practitioners can facilitate linkages between input companies and bioforti-fied seed suppliers so they can begin stocking the product and receive training.

Hybrid and Biofortified Seeds: Several types of im-proved seed varieties have emerged in recent years:

» Hybrid varieties: New Rice for Africa (NERICA), for example, is a product of hybridization between the

cultivated rice species of Africa and Asia. It combines the local-stress adapta-tion of African rice with the high-yield potential of Asian rice. NERICA is more dis-ease resistant and fertilizer responsive. There are now 18 upland varieties and 60 lowland varieties. Another hybrid variety NERICA is the makassane variety in Mo-zambique, which is resistant to bacterial leaf blight and blast. The variety produces a long grain and has a higher milling recovery rate.

» Vitamin A-biofortified variety: Golden Rice is a genetically engineered, yellow-orange rice grain that contains beta-carotene (a plant form of vitamin A). Breeding of varieties suit-able for Asia is underway, but they are not yet avail-able in Africa.

» Zinc-biofortified variety: Zinc Rice is being developed by Harvest Plus, and is to be re-leased in 2013. Zinc Rice con-tains high level of zinc and is disease and pest resistant.

ProductionRotation Planting4: Legumes complement cereals like rice in both production and consump-tion. During the production cycle, legumes improve soil fertility and require less water than cereals. Their rotation with cereals also helps con-trol diseases and pests. Rota-tion between beans/peas and upland rice is more common, while rotation with lowland rice is also possible. Many vegeta-bles, such as pepper, carrots, garlic, onion and melons, can rotate with rice. In addition, rice-growing areas may con-sider rotating with oilseed, nuts and vegetables. Planting these nutritious crops with rice not only helps soil conservation, but also provides households with access to diverse food options.

Intercropping with Fish5,6: Fish can be raised in fields with lowland rice; this is widely practiced in Asia and in some countries in Africa, Areas for intercropping should have a consistent water supply; be free from excessive flooding; and be in a fertile area. In a

Macronutrients Micronutrients

Rice is low in fat and provides mainly carbohydrates for energy. The protein level of rice is the lowest among the cereals. Furthermore, it is deficient in some essential amino acids (including lysine) and contains an excess amount of other amino acids that negatively influence the body’s protein utilization.

Unmilled rice is a good source of thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3) and dietary fi-ber. However, these B vitamins and other micronutrients are lost when rice is milled and/or polished (e.g., white rice and broken rice) due to the loss of the bran layer. These nutrients are retained in brown and parboiled rice. See table below for additional information. Rice is not a good source of iron, zinc and vitamin A.2

Table 1: Nutritional Profile

rice-fish cropping system in In-donesia for example, two strips are planted with rice, while two strips are left empty for fish. Fish is high in omega-3 fatty acid (an essential fatty acid), quality protein, vitamins (A, D, E and K ) and minerals. Animal proteins supply iron, zinc, fo-late and vitamin B12, and have a complete protein superior to plant protein in terms of qual-ity and digestibility. Fish can be fed maize, rice, pig manure and chicken manure, so farms practicing integrated farming techniques can utilize all farm resources for greater cost ef-fectiveness.

Improved production tech-niques: Low rice yields con-strain availability, affect food security and reduce competi-tiveness. Through improved

production techniques that lead to higher yields, farmers have greater means to pur-chase additional foods to com-plete a balanced diet. More efficient production practices can lead to savings in produc-tion costs such as inputs and labor, allowing farmers, espe-cially women, to devote more time and money to other activi-ties such as child care and meal preparation. One example of an improved production tech-nique is system of rice intensi-fication (SRI), which was devel-oped in Madagascar 25 years ago and is now being adopted throughout the continent. SRI is a set of farming practices that increase the productivity of irrigated rice by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients.7,8 For

example, SRI involves careful planting of young seedlings (8–12 days old) one by one and widely spaced (25 cm or more); keeping the soil moist but well-drained and well-aerated; and adding compost or other organic material to the soil as much as possible. Successful applications of SRI have shown that farmers can raise their paddy yields by 50–100 percent or more while using fewer farm inputs, especially water.

Processing Processing has a big impact on the nutritional value of rice, as mentioned under the nu-tritional profile above and as illustrated in the table below. Brown and parboiled rice have the highest nutritional value.

See Table 2, below.

Brown Rice Parboiled Rice Milled Rice

Other names Whole-grain, unmilled rice, some country rice

Golden rice (different from the bioteched variety)

White rice, broken rice, pol-ished rice, butter rice

Processing and storage

Only hull is removed; nutritious bran layer is kept; not good for long-term storage

Soaked, pressure steamed, milled, steam dried and de-hulled. Bran layer and other components are commingled

Hull and bran layer are re-moved by milling and further polishing

Nutritional values

High

B vitamins and fiber are retained

Medium

B vitamins lost during steaming

Low (if not enriched or fortified)

B vitamins and fiber are lost

Regional pref-erences

Senegal Nigeria, Northern Ghana, Liberia

May vary from household to household

Cooking Hard Easy Easy

Potential in-tervention

More efficient cooking equip-ment/methods

Improve parboiling technique (steaming) to minimize vita-min loss; improving soaking method to reduce aflatoxin risk

Enrichment/fortification

Table 2: Processing Overview 9

Fortifying rice10: In more- developed commercial systems, rice can be fortified, although rice fortification is relatively expensive compared to fortifi-cation of other products (e.g., flour, oil). This is not because of the cost of micronutrient fortifi-cants themselves, but because of the costs associated with the production process, including the synthesis of artificial ker-nels or the coating process of natural kernels. Further study on consumer preferences of forti-fied rice also needs to be con-ducted. Four technologies are used to fortify rice11:

» Coating, the most com-mon of the technologies in developing countries, involves coating rice kernels with a fortified spray that forms a premix that is then blended with polished rice. Initial investment in a coat-ing facility is approximately $300,000.

» Cold extrusion, similar to the process used to manu-facture pasta, produces rice-shaped simulated kernels out of dough made of rice four, a fortificant mix and water.

» Hot extrusion is similar to

cold extrusion, but the ad-dition of heat to the process results in fully or partially pre-cooked simulated rice kernels that look more like real rice.

» Dusting, practiced only in the United States, in-volves dusting polished rice grains with powder from a micronutrient premix. The rice must then be specially cooked to avoid excessive amounts of water that strip off nutrients

End Market Consumer Awareness: Behavior change among consumers will increase acceptance of and famil-iarity with more nutritious variet-ies and processed forms of rice. Households must also under-stand the importance of consum-

ing diverse, nutrient-rich food that is grown in gardens rather than selling all of it for cash.

Demand Creation: Linked to consumer education, practitio-ners can work with companies to create demand for fortified and diverse local foods through nu-trition education and marketing.

Product Diversification: Prac-titioners can support the com-mercial ambitions of businesses interested in fortified rice prod-ucts and support the develop-ment of market channels for broken grains such as rice flour, which is easier to fortify, or lo-cally produced enriched rice.

Key RecommendationsEating a diverse diet is very important for households following a rice-based diet. It improves nutritional status, and diversified production and processing strategies reduce risk for smallholder farmers and improve market opportunities. Agricultural development proj-ects should highlight this dual benefit of diversification in both production and consumption and consider the entire value chain

Fish FarmingHistorically, fish farming has focused on raising large fish for sale outside the farming communities. Managing the balance between farming large fish for sale and small fish for household consumption should be a priority. Some surveys found that dishes made from small fish were more equitably shared among household members than dishes made from large fish; thus, small fish have a larger impact on household nutrition.

Demand Creation

Consumers in urban Guinea preferred imported white rice over the locally produced parboiled variety. To increase demand for domestically produced rice, retailers created a marketing campaign targeted at raising consumer awareness of the superior nutritional value of parboiled rice. While it tastes different and takes longer to cook, parboiled rice has higher vitamin con-tent than white rice and is beneficial for diabetics, as it takes longer for the body to convert to blood sugar. The nutritionally linked marketing cam-paign helped change consumer perceptions around domestic rice (espe-cially that of female caretakers) and increased demand.

1 http://microlinks.kdid.org/sites/microlinks/files/resource/files/GFSR_WA_Rice_VC_Analysis.pdf

2 Golden Rice. http://www.goldenrice.org/index.html

3 Rice and Human Nutrition, FAO

4 Cereal knowledge bank. http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/ckb/PDFs/croppingsystem/socioeconomic/socioeco-nomic%20constraints%20to%20legumes%20production%20in%20rice-wheat%20cropping%20systems%20of%20india.pdf

5 Legowo System for Fish-Rice Intercropping. http://www.agnet.org/library/pt/2001007

6 Africa Farming. http://africafarming.info

7 System of Rice Intensification. http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/245848/about.html and http://sri.ciifad.

cornell.edu/index.html

8 SRI: System of Rice Intensification. http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/index.html

9 GFSR West Africa Rice Value Chain Analysis (USAID, 2009), Rice Fortification in Developing Countries (USAID, 2008); and Rice in Human Nutrition ( FAO, 1993); combined.

10 Fortifying Africa’s Future (FORTAF). http://www.fortaf.org/index.htm

11 Rice Fortification in Developing Countries: A Critical Review of the Technical and Economic Feasibility. http://www.a2zproject.org/pdf/Food-Rice-Fortification-Report-with-Annexes-FINAL.pdf

12 PATH Ultra Rice. http://www.path.org/projects/ultra_rice.php

system in designing interven-tions. Critical messages from this fact sheet include the following:

Rice contains few micronutri-ents and low-quality protein; therefore it should be con-sumed with proteins such as legumes, fish or other animal products to provide a balanced nutritional profile.

» Rotating rice with legumes improves soil quality, and in some environments fish can be grown in swamp rice fields. The household can improve its nutritional status by eating these crops, and increase income by selling some of them.

» Most micronutrients are lost during processing (e.g.,

milling, polishing) of white and broken rice, however brown and parboiled rice retain those nutrients.

» Improved processing techniques, such as rice fortification and improved parboiling, can add value to commercial product and im-prove the nutritional value of rice for consumers.

» Producer and consumer ed-ucation is key to increased consumption of nutritious foods, but consider the roles other market actors (e.g., input suppliers, re-tailers, etc.) can play—and their incentives for doing so—in education and be-havior change.



Ultra Rice

PATH recently developed the Ultra Rice simulated grain us-ing extrusion technologies; it now licenses that technology to commercial partners. Ultra Rice is high in vitamin A, and is mixed with white rice—typically at a 1 to 100 blend ratio—resulting in forti-fied rice that is nearly identical to unfortified rice in smell, taste and texture.12


Introduction

Many countries have pri-oritized market devel-opment of vegetable

value chains based purely on their economic growth poten-tial. Compared to staple crops, vegetables typically fetch high-er prices in the market, provide a higher return on investment, are often grown and/or sold by women, and can success-fully be produced on limited amounts of land. Because of

their high nutritional content, increased access to a variety of vegetables is also a critical ele-ment of the nutritional security, developmental growth and human productivity of a nation. However, research continues to show that increased vegetable production does not lead to increased household consump-tion. Hence it is important to pair vegetable value chain work with awareness-raising and be-havior-change activities to en-sure that producers themselves are able to reap the nutritional benefits of what they grow.

Most vegetables contain sig-nificant amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and can improve diet diversity and a household’s nutritional status when eaten in combination with staple foods. Improving micronutrient intake through increased vegetable consump-tion—whether the vegetables are grown on household farms or purchased in the market—is key to tackling Africa’s dual burden of undernutrition and increasing rates of obesity.1

This fact sheet provides infor-mation on the nutritional ben-efits of a number of commonly grown vegetables in sub-Saha-

ran Africa. The purpose of this overview is to assist practitio-ners in the selection of veg-etables for value chain develop-ment and to inform rotation, intercropping and household utilization choices that may bet-ter address nutritional deficien-cies among farming families. It closes with several general tips on how to avoid loss of vitamins and minerals during the produc-tion, harvesting, processing and cooking of vegetables.



VEGETABLES

Vegetable Nutritional ProfilesThree classes of vegetables with high nutritional content are profiled below: dark-green leafy vegetables; orange, red and yellow vegetables; and podded vegetables. See Figure 1 for nutritional profiles.

Dark-Green Leafy Vegetables

The dark-green leaves of veg-

etables such as spinach, spi-der weed, pigweed, moringa, cassava and sweet potato indicate a high vitamin and mineral content—specifically, vitamin A, iron and zinc. These vitamins and minerals are often lacking in staple foods and are particularly important for the health and development of pregnant and lactating women and children. Dark-green leafy vegetables are great additions to meals that are based on ce-

reals and legumes, but they do not store well and need to be eaten soon after harvesting.

Orange, Red and Yellow Vegetables

These vegetables include some of fruit/flower vegetables as well as root/tube/bulb vegeta-bles that are discussed in detail below. Vegetables and fruits of an orange color usually contain a greater amount of vitamin A

Figure 1: Nutritional Profile


Dark-Green Leafy Vegetables

Spinach Spinach has a high nutritional value, especially when fresh, steamed or quickly boiled. Its iron content is twice that found in other green vegetables, and the available iron is higher when eaten raw. It is also a rich source of folate, vitamins A, C, E, and K, magnesium, and antioxidants.

Spider plant/ weed

Spider weed, also known as spider plant or African cabbage, is high in vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A, vitamin C and iron. Spider weed can be sold as fresh produce in markets, and it can be used to make medicinal products, insecticides and seed oils that are used in soaps, biofuels or other commercial products.

Amaranthus (Pigweed)2

Amaranth has nutritional leaves and seeds, and it contains high levels of micronutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, iron and calcium in leaves, and high protein content in seeds. The leaves are also rich in lysine, an essential amino acid that is low or absent in cereals and tubers. The protein found in young plants is important for people without access to meat or other sources of protein. The fat content in amaranth seed is high (7–8 percent), which is double that of common cereals.

Moringa Moringa leaves contain high-level complete protein, vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin C and miner-als. Moringa is considered extremely valuable by people aware of its nutritional and pharmaceu-tical qualities. Moringa yields at least four different edibles—pods, leaves, seeds and roots—and has a potential role in reducing hunger, malnutrition, deforestation and rural poverty. In Africa, moringa leaves appear at the end of the dry season when there are few other sources of leafy green vegetables. Its leaves are developed into powder and food additives, its pods can be pro-cessed like peas, its trunks are raw material for making paper and the tree can thrive in wasteland.3

Cassava leaves Cassava leaves contain carbohydrates as well as proteins and vitamin A. They are suitable for children’s diets but must be cooked properly to remove toxins (e.g., through blanching).

Sweet potato leaves

Sweet potato leaves provide a dietary source of protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and dietary fiber. These leaves are affordable sources of nourishment.

Figure 1: Continued


Orange, Red and Yellow Vegetables: Fruit and Flower Vegetables

Tomato Tomato is botanically a fruit and rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin K, B vitamins and iron. It is also a good source of the antioxidant lycopene, which is found in the pigment that makes toma-toes red. The vitamin C content increases as the tomato ripens; this continues even after harvest, but for optimal results, tomatoes should be vine ripened. Tomatoes can be preserved, although some of the nutrients are destroyed during drying, canning or processing into a variety of prod-ucts such as tomato paste, tomato ketchup, tomato juice and sundried tomatoes.4

Pepper5 All peppers are a good source of vitamin A and C, although nutritional values vary depending on the variety and stage of maturity. Bell peppers are usually picked before they reach maturity, however if they are left to ripen on the plant they are sweeter and higher in vitamin content. Other peppers (such as chili) are usually harvested at full maturity. In general, peppers have a short storage life of only one to two weeks.

Orange, Red and Yellow Vegetables: Root, Tube and Bulb Vegetables

Onion and shallot6

Onions and shallots contains a significant amount of vitamin C, antioxidants and dietary fiber. Farmers can extend the shelf life of onions by placing them in a warm, well-ventilated area until the necks and outer skins are thoroughly dry and brittle.

Carrots Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A and contain a large amount of dietary fiber and antioxidants. Under proper storage conditions (e.g., buried in light moist sand in an underground cellar or stored in the garden in a pit insulated with straw), carrots keep up to 4 to 6 months.

Potato7 Potatoes are a starchy vegetable and do not contain many vitamins or minerals. However, like staple foods such as rice and maize they do provide a significant amount of calories due to their high carbohydrate content. Potatoes need to be stored in a cool, dark and well-ventilated place and kept in perforated plastic bags or paper bags to keep them dry and to prevent sprouting.

Sweet potato The orange-flesh sweet potato is richer in vitamin A compared to other varieties, such as purple- or white-flesh sweet potatoes. Vitamin A biofortified orange-flesh potatoes have been developed and used in countries such as Uganda, Mozambique and Haiti. Sweet potatoes must be handled as little as possible to avoid scuffing and bruising. The storage life of many varieties can be greatly increased by proper curing and/or storing in underground pits.

Cassava8,9 Cassava is a major source of calories for more than 250 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. However, a typical diet based on cassava provides less than 30 percent of the minimum daily requirement for protein and only 10–20 percent of the required amounts of iron, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin E. Moreover, because it carries low levels of a naturally occurring cyanide, cassava can be toxic if is not prepared properly. Cassava needs to be supplemented by other nutritious foods such as legumes and vegetables. Fresh cassava roots can be washed well, peeled, dried and ground into cassava flour, which has a long storage life and multiple uses.10

Podded Vegetables

Okra11,12 Okra is a good source of vitamin B6 and folic acid and is rich in dietary fiber. Fresh okra has a short storage life and needs to be kept dry. It should be loosely wrapped in perforated bags to prevent bruises. Okra can be dried and stored in baskets, clay pots or bags. Okra seed can also be dried, and the dried seed is a nutritious material that can be used to prepare vegetable curds, or roasted and ground to be used as a coffee additive or substitute. Okra is considered to have diverse medical properties and and can be used to make items such as rope and paper.

Legumes Please refer to the legume fact sheet

than other colored vegetables. Vitamin A is a critical nutrient for vision, immune function, promotion of growth and skin health. Vitamin A deficiency is prevalent in pregnant women and young children in many sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries.

Root vegetables are plant roots used as vegetables. The word “root” means any under-ground part of a plant.

Root vegetables are gener-ally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of carbohydrates. They differ in the concentration and the bal-ance between sugars, starches, and other types of vegetables. Of particular economic impor-tance are those with a high carbohydrate concentration in the form of starch. Starchy root vegetables are important staple foods, particularly in tropical regions, overshadow-ing cereals throughout much of West Africa, Central Africa, and Oceania. Examples include cas-sava, yams and sweet potatoes.

Podded Vegetables Podded vegetables such as beans and peas tend to be cool-season crops. Podded vegetables are seeds that are found inside two-sided pods. They are a rich source of proteins, potassium, folic acid, complex carbohy-drates, magnesium, iron, fiber and zinc.

Vegetable Rotation and Intercropping13

It is widely considered good agricultural practice to rotate and intercrop certain comple-mentary crops in order to replenish soil nutrients from one season to the next and to control pests. For example beans are often planted after tomatoes to fix nitrogen back into the soil. By understanding the nutritional elements and agronomic properties of veg-etable crops, agriculture pro-grams can recommend benefi-cial rotation and intercropping choices. This can increase food availability, diversity and acces-sibility for households.

In a rotation, vegetables are often arranged according to families so that individual vege-tables from the same family do not follow each other. To keep a rotation sequence in proper order, it is best to intercrop members of the same family whenever possible. Intercrop-ping involves the simultaneous culture of two or more crops in the same garden within the same growing season.

Techniques for Reducing Nutrient Loss The quality and nutritional value of fresh produce is af-fected by harvest methods, post-harvest handling and stor-age conditions, processing and packaging. Poor preservation results in waste during the in-

season, whereas during the off-season there is limited supply accompanied by high prices. Appropriate preservation and storage methods are needed to prolong the consumption of nutrient-rich foods year round. The following considerations play an important role in maxi-mizing nutrient retention:

Harvest: Picking too early or too late may have an impact on the nutrient content of some vegetables.14

For example, crops such as tomatoes and avocados are climacteric, that is, they are capable of generating the rip-ening hormone ethylene after being detached from the moth-er plant. Climacteric produce may reach full ripe color even when harvested early, yet they will not reach the full nutritional quality that they would have had if they had ripened on the plant. Total vitamin C content of tomatoes, apricots, peaches and papayas is higher when these crops are picked ripe from the plant. Other crops are non-climacteric, such as asparagus, peppers, lettuce, cucumber, eggplant, pumpkin and beets, which will reach commercial maturity on the plant only.

If destined for distant markets, climacteric crops are often har-vested as early as possible after they reach their physiological maturity; this helps them with-stand mechanical harvesting and long-distance transport without damage. For household consumption from home gar-

dens, it is best to pick produce ripe, right before consumption, to ensure higher vitamin C and other nutrient content.

Harvesting should take place at cooler times of the day, such as the early morning, to minimize nutrient loss and increase the work efficiency of pickers.

Bruising and damaging as a result of poor post-harvest handling, exposure to tem-peratures and humidity, and transportation can accelerate nutrient loss.

Processing and packaging15: Processing, such as cutting, slicing, chopping and peeling, can injure the plant tissues and initiate deterioration (by enzy-matic reactions) and water loss-es. This increases susceptibility to spoilage due to bacteria or fungus growth and thus com-promises food safety. It also alters chemical make-up and increases nutrient loss. Preserva-tion methods include drying and/or packaging in a timely manner; blanching before stor-age, packaging or freezing; irradiation; chemical preserva-tion (using ascorbic acid or cit-ric acid); or pickling with sugar or salt. The following are some useful techniques:

» Cooling slows physiological processes such as bacte-ria and fungus growth and spoilage. Lower storage temperatures increase stor-age life; blocking sunshine and allowing good air flow in storage spaces can help

reduce temperature.

» Blanching is the heating of fruits or vegetables for a short time with either steam or water, and is an essen-tial step before canning, drying or freezing of food. Blanching inactivates cer-tain substances that would otherwise adversely affect nutrient content, color, flavor or texture during subsequent processing and storage. Blanching is useful for green beans, broccoli, asparagus and some other vegetables and fruits.

» Canning, using either glass jars or tin cans, is one of the most effective ways to pre-serve vegetables. To avoid botulism, special caution should be taken when can-ning low-acid foods such as vegetables at home or on a small-scale.

» Protective packaging such as liners, cushioning and indi-vidual wraps can reduce dam-age and vents in carton boxes can minimize heat buildup.

Cooking: Cooking methods have an impact on nutrient loss and nutrient distribution. Water-soluble micronutrients, such as vitamin C, B vitamins and most natural forms of minerals, leak into the cooking water. Reusing or drinking the cooking water in which leafy vegetables are boiled can put these nutrients to good use. Likewise, fat-soluble nutrients, such as vitamin A, D, E, K and

most antioxidants, may dis-solve into the fat portion of the dish (e.g., oil). For example, deep-fried sweet potatoes contain much less vitamin A because vitamin A dissolves into the oil and is destroyed by the high temperature of fry-ing. Baking or steaming sweet potatoes will preserve more of their Vitamin A.

Key Messages » Vegetable value chain ac-

tivities must be combined with awareness-raising and behavior-change activities to ensure that producers themselves are able to reap the nutritional benefits of what they grow.

» The color of dark-green leafy vegetables indicates a high vitamin and mineral content—specifically, vita-min A, iron and zinc. These vitamins and minerals are often lacking in staple foods like rice and maize.

» Orange, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits con-tain a large amount of beta-carotene (a plant-source vitamin A), which is critical for healthy vision, strong immune function, proper growth and healthy skin.

» Cassava and potatoes lack the vitamins and nutrients found in more colorful veg-etables. They most often take the place of other staple foods and should

1 See the Nutrition Primer, part of this series, for additional information on macro and micronutrients and their affect on health and nutrition.

2 Pigweed http://www.botanicalsociety.org.za/ProjectsAn-dActivities/Useful%20Plants/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=4

3 Lost crops for Africa—vegetables. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11763

4 Determinants of post harvest losses in tomato production: a case study of Imeko – Afon local government area of Ogun state

5 Pepper Fact Sheet. Ohio State University Extension.

6 Onions: post-harvest operations. FAO. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/inpho/docs/Post_Harvest_Com-pendium_-_Onion.pdf

7 Potato Nutrition Handbook. http://www.potatogoodness.com/Content/pdf/PPNHandbook_Final.pdf

8 Biocassava Plushttp://www.danforthcenter.org/science/programs/INTERNATIONAL_PROGRAMS/BCP/default.asp

9 Impact of Cassava development on Food Security and Nutrition of the Rural Poor http://km.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/fsn/docs/SUMMARY_ImpactOfCassavaDevel-opmentOnFSNofRuralPoor.pdf

10 Food storage and processing for household food secu-rity http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0078e/w0078e07.htm

11 Okra. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/okra.cfm

12 An overview of Production, Processing, Marketing and Utilisation of Okra in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria. http://www.cigrjournal.org/index.php/Ejounral/article/viewFile/959/1119

13 Vegetable Rotations, Successions and Intercropping http://lubbock.tamu.edu/horticulture/docs/vegrote.html

14 Healthy and Sustainable Food http://chge.med.harvard.edu/programs/food/nutrition.html

15 Processing of horticultural products. http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/ae075e/ae075e22.htm

be eaten with legumes and other vegetables to maxi-mize nutritional benefit.

» In general, vegetables do not have a long useful life after they have been picked, but their usefulness can be extended by curing, drying, or using appropriate storage methods.

» To maximize soil health, vegetables from the same family should be inter-cropped together, and vegetables from a different family should follow during the next crop rotation.

» Most fruits and vegetables have greater vitamin con-tent if they are picked ripe from the plant, rather than being picked before they have fully ripened.

» Cooking methods have an impact on how much of a vegetable’s nutrients can actually be consumed.

» Vitamin C, B vitamins and most natural forms of minerals will leak into the cooking water. Reusing or drinking the cooking water in which leafy vegetables are boiled can prevent the loss of these nutrients.

» Vitamins A, D, E, K and most antioxidants may dissolve into cooking oil. For example, deep-fried sweet potatoes contain much less vitamin A because vitamin A dis-solves into the oil and is destroyed by the high temperature of frying.

» Producer and consumer ed-ucation is key to increased consumption of nutritious foods. Using proper incen-tive strategies, other market actors (e.g., input suppliers, retailers, etc.) can also play an important role in educa-tion and behavior change.



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