Rural nutrition interventions with indigenous plant foods
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leaf vegetable, particularly when other vegetables are
not available or expensive to purchase (Babu, Chale,
1994). For example, four different recipes of Moringa
were tested for their acceptance along with boiled
pumpkin leaves as an alternative. A sample of 50 rural
households was invited to choose between five relish
foods made from Moringa with that of pumpkin
leaves. The foods included Moringa boiled with salt;
Moringa boiled with salt and chillies; Moringa boiled
and fried with salt and chillies; Moringa boiled with
beans; and Moringa boiled with meat. Moringa fared
well with the commonly used pumpkin leaves with
about 63% of the participants preferring it over
pumpkin leaves. Among the Moringa recipes, Moringa
boiled with beans was the most preferred choice
followed by Moringa boiled and fried with salt and
chillies. About 70% of the participants said they would
learn the recipes and still use Moringa in their regular
diets.
3.5. Developing cropping practices
A common problem in the introduction of new plant
foods into a community besides the issue of
acceptance is the timely availability of propagation
materials. In the case of Moringa, it can be cultivated
both as a perennial as well as an annual. T h e
cultivation of annual varieties reduces the time
between the planting and harvesting. Ensuring the
local availability of planting materials is important in
the case of annual varieties. This will enable better
adoption of the newly introduced crops. Equally
important is developing cropping practices for the new
crops introduced. In Malawi, the Horticultural
Division in the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible
for developing technical messages for Moringa. This
Division also coordinates with its regional and local
units to propagate the identified crop species including
Moringa and provide planting material to the
communities. For example, in one of the agricultural
divisions planting materials in the form of stumps
from high quality Moringa were gathered and
distributed to those who were in need of the planting
materials. The recommendation was to plant the trees
in the bunds of the field to form a fence around the
garden during the period just before the starting of the
rainy season (October/November). Moringa stumps
continue to be the most popular planting material for
perennial Moringa production in Malawi since one of
the key objectives is to plant Moringa on the bunds as
live fencing around the crop fields.
3.6. Extension and training
Most of the efforts of the agricultural extension
systems in developing countries are focussed on
increasing food production. Therefore, most of the
technical messages delivered by extension are
production-oriented. Given that traditional crops are
grown year after year with the same agronomic
practices, there are few new messages to be
disseminated to the farmers. In the off - s e a s o n
extension agents are relatively free to undertake
additional activities such as nutrition education. One
way of engaging extension workers in development-
related activities is by utilizing and delivering
messages on indigenous plants. Feedback information
from the field can also be sent to research units
through the same channel. It is also important to
document and disseminate the information on the
success of indigenous food plants in nutrition
interventions. International agencies, such as FAO,
have already started their role by documenting the
presence and the use of edible wild plants in local
communities in several developing countries (FAO,
1989). One specific project in Ngabu district that
addressed the problem of vitamin A d e f i c i e n c y
included a training component. The training was
aimed at introducing commonly grown and wild plants
that had high levels of vitamin A including Moringa
and demonstrated their propagation, cultivation and
utilization. The field extension officers were the
trainers who in turn demonstrated the use of these
plants to farmers during their extension visits.
3.7. Evaluation
The introduction of indigenous plant foods could be
tried out as a pilot project in a small area to determine
its success. Indigenous foods introduced should be
evaluated for improvements of the nutritional status of
the population in relation to particular nutritional
problems for which they are recommended. T h e
evaluation of indigenous plant foods' introduction for
its effectiveness as a method of rural nutritional
intervention may provide useful insights and lessons.
The evaluation studies should be carried out by the
evaluation sections of the local agricultural divisions
with the help of subject matter specialists for food and
nutrition although capacity for such activities are
severely lacking in many countries. One such
evaluation is documented elsewhere (Babu, Chale,
1994). The results of the evaluations should be used in
modifying and redesigning intervention programs.
They are also useful in identifying operational,
administrative,
and
technical
problems
in
implementation. Thus, the cyclical process of
identifying new indigenous plants and their evaluation
for their effectiveness in improving nutritional status
should be an integral part of on-going work of the
institutions involved in rural nutrition activities.
Study 