Dietary Contribution of Wild Edible Plants to Women's Diets in the Buffer
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Food Sec. DOI 10.1007/s12571-014-0396-7 ORIGINAL PAPER Dietary contribution of Wild Edible Plants to women’s diets in the buffer zone around the Lama forest, Benin – an underutilized potential Julia Boedecker & Céline Termote & AchilleEphremAssogbadjo& Patrick Van Damme & Carl Lachat Received: 5 March 2014 /Accepted: 2 October 2014 # The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Rural populations in developing countries face food towards WEPs and two non-consecutive 24-h recalls of their insecurity and malnutrition despite being surrounded by extraor- WEP consumption. Contribution of WEPs to total dietary intake dinary biodiversity. The international community increasingly was low due to infrequent use and small portion sizes. The recognizes the role of agro-biodiversity and Wild Edible Plants highest nutrient contributions of WEPs measured were for cop- (WEPs) in their contributions to managing risk and building per (13.9 %) and iron (4.6 %) but the majority of the women had resilience and sustainable food systems. Studies on real contri- intake values below the Estimated Average Requirements butions of WEPs to peoples’ diets, however, are uncommon. (EARs) for these elements - copper 65 % and iron 91 % This study assessed the contribution of WEPs to diets of women Women’s dietary diversity was significantly higher among living in the buffer zone of the Lama forest in southern Benin. WEP consumers than non-consumers, mainly due to higher During the long dry season, a cross-sectional survey was carried consumption of dark green leafy vegetables. WEPs were less out on 120 women, covering their knowledge and attitudes consumed as a replacement for other foods but rather as a complement to the diet. The study population generally appreci- : : ated WEPs, while some constraints were reported regarding J. Boedecker C. Termote P. Van Damme preparation, conservation and commercialization. Before widely Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Agronomy and Ethnobotany, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium promoting WEP consumption in order to exploit their dietary potential, additional investigations are needed into their nutrient J. Boedecker e-mail: [email protected] composition, cultural and market value, their sustainable harvest levels and possible integration into innovative farming systems. P. Van Damme e-mail: [email protected] Keywords Wild edible plants . Nutrition . Biodiversity . A. E. Assogbadjo Dietary diversity Laboratory of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01BP526 Cotonou, Benin e-mail: [email protected] Introduction C. Lachat Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Ghent University, Sub-Saharan Africa, with close to 223 million people (24.8 %) Coupure links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium ’ e-mail: [email protected] undernourished, remains the world s most food-insecure re- gion (FAO 2013a). Meanwhile, the continent exhibits highly C. Lachat biodiverse environments with valuable, but often neglected Nutrition and Child Health Unit, Institute for Tropical Medicine, and underutilized resources such as Wild Edible Plants Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium (WEPs) (Chennai Platform for Action 2005). According to Present Address:: Heywood (1999)andTermoteetal.(2011), WEPs are defined J. Boedecker C. Termote (*) as ‘plants that are gathered (not cultivated), which grow Nutrition and Marketing Diversity Programme, Bioversity spontaneously in self-maintaining populations in natural or International, Via dei Tre Denari, 472/a, 00057 Maccarese/Rome, Italy semi-natural ecosystems and can exist independently of direct e-mail: [email protected] human action’. J. Boedecker et al. In resource-poor settings worldwide, low-quality, monoto- intake by thorough dietary assessment methods (Grivetti and nous diets are common and the risk of micronutrient deficien- Ogle 2000; Penafiel et al. 2011; Mavengahama et al. 2013; cies is high (Arimond et al. 2010;FAO2013b). At the same Powell et al. 2013). They include those by Ogle et al. (2001a– time, global supply of food energy is dependent on only a c) in Vietnam, Termote et al. (2012) in DR Congo and Powell small number of cultivated species and varieties (Barucha and et al. (2013) in Tanzania but the authors arrive at divergent Pretty 2010;FAO2013a; Grivetti and Ogle 2000). Food results and conclusions. More research is thus needed to better security is often seen as the amount of energy available from understand the different roles and potential of WEPs in agri- staple food production, but the quality of diet in terms of range cultural systems, diets and nutrition within different agro- of nutrients and food components is not taken into account. ecological, economic and socio-cultural contexts. This be- Together with the lack of food composition data on WEPs, comes even more important, given that increasing moderni- this has led to a routine undervaluation of WEPs in diets and to zation and globalization have been reported as factors contrib- their neglect by researchers, policy makers and nutritionists uting to the loss of knowledge and decline in the use of WEPs, (Grivetti and Ogle 2000;Figueroaetal.2009). leading to changes in dietary patterns (Keller et al. 2006). Recently, the study of biodiversity, encompassing cultivated Up till now, several ethnobotanical studies in (Southern) and wild biodiversity, has become part of the agriculture, food Benin have documented a vast number of WEPs known by the and nutrition agenda (Barucha and Pretty 2010). There is now local populations (Achigan–Dako et al. 2010 and 2011;Dansi greater attention paid to the role of WEPs as part of agro- et al. 2008;N’Danikou 2009;N’Danikou et al. 2011), but none biodiversity in managing risk, building resilience and supporting has attempted to quantify their dietary contributions using thor- household subsistence (Mahapatra and Panda 2012). WEPs can ough food intake assessment methods. The objective of this contributetofoodsecurityinseveral ways. Harvesting and study is to assess the contribution of WEPs to women’s diets in trading WEPs can result in rural employment and income gen- the buffer zone of the Lama forest in southern Benin, a plant eration (Shackleton and Shackleton 2004;Akinnifesietal.2005; biodiverse region diversity (Djego 2003;N’Danikou 2009). It Keller et al. 2006;Ageaetal.2007; Barucha and Pretty 2010; describes the overall dietary patterns of the women there, evalu- Legwaila et al. 2011). In other studies, the incorporation of WEPs ates their total dietary intake against the Estimated Average in cropping systems has increased agro-biodiversity, enhanced Requirements (EARs) of adult women and documents the con- production and mitigated the effects of environmental shocks, tribution of WEPs to energy, macronutrient and micronutrient pests and diseases (Moore and Raymond 2006;Tilmanetal. intakes as percentages of total nutrient intake. Furthermore, local 2006;Venteretal.2007;Frisonetal.2011; Mahapatra and Panda women’s attitudes towards WEPs were analyzed, such as wheth- 2012;AsifandKamran2013). Furthermore, WEPs are adapted er WEPs were nutritious, ‘food for the poor’ or part of cultural to the local and sometimes harsh environmental conditions where practices. To our knowledge, this is the first study combining other cultivated species would fail (Bradford 2010;Flymanand both an assessment of the contributions of WEPs to diets as well Afolayan 2006). Because of their resilience, WEPs can act as as local attitudes towards them. This should help to identify safety nets in times of food shortage and famine (Guinand and determinants of WEP consumption and contribute to a better Dechassa 2000; Shackleton and Shackleton 2004;Kebuand understanding of the links and gaps between traditional knowl- Fassil 2006;Kelleretal.2006). They may also contribute to edge, attitudes and actual use of WEPs . greater dietary diversity and be essential components of an otherwise monotonous and nutritionally poor diet (Grivetti and Ogle 2000;FAO2005; Fentahun and Hager 2009). A number of Materials and methods authors stress the high nutritional (micronutrient) content of WEPs (Nesamvuni et al. 2001; Steyn et al. 2001;Odhavetal. All research protocols and questionnaires were developed in 2007; Kuhnlein et al. 2009; Mavengahama et al. 2013). Lastly, collaboration with and evaluated by the University of Abomey- WEPs, in some cases, also represent an inextricable link between Calavi in Benin. In addition, ethical clearance was obtained from people and their lands, defining bio-cultural identity (Barucha the Ethical Committee of Ghent University, Belgium (registra- and Pretty 2010). tion number: B670201112730). Because most rural women in Various researchers have argued that WEPs are important the Lama forest are illiterate, the study protocol and the likely in local food systems and make significant contributions to the findings were explained in their local language to community food and nutrition security of the poor (Lockett et al. 2000; leaders and respondents and informed oral consent was obtained Mahapatra and Panda 2012; Mavengahama et al. 2013; from all participants before starting the interviews. Fentahun and Hager 2009;Legwailaetal.2011; Shackleton 2003). However, studies actually quantifying the contribu- Study site and population tions of WEPs to diets are scattered and use different meth- odologies, making comparisons difficult. Few studies have The research was carried out