Objective
In this session field workers apply their knowledge of nutrition and home gardening to a case study in preparation for applying that knowledge to a real-life situation.
FIGURE 6.1
Some typical home garden crops
OVERVIEW
At this point, most of the technical information contained in this training package has been conveyed. The remaining training sessions will prepare participants to apply this knowledge in various ways. In this session, the knowledge and concepts covered so far are actively reviewed and then used in analysing a case study of a household situation.
The participants are asked to review the case study and discuss possible solutions and actions that the case study subjects could implement to improve the productivity of their home garden, increase and diversify household food supplies, and add nutritional value to their diets. Several possible solutions should be reviewed, including actions that the case study household members can take immediately (e.g. advise mothers and fathers to give one additional meal each day to their child) and others which may take a longer time to improve household nutrition (e.g. diversify crop production).
ACTIVITIES
The case study depicts a household situation in the semi-arid region of southern Africa. Trainers in other African regions, particularly in the humid tropical areas, are advised to create their own case studies, or to adapt this one to reflect their local area's food, agriculture and nutrition situations, as well as the constraints that their rural households face and the opportunities that exist to overcome those constraints.
Case study. The exercise should start in plenary. The participants should be given 20 minutes to review the Case Study Notes and discuss the significance of each piece of information, identifying and listing on a flip chart the main problems highlighted in the case study. The trainer should ensure that related problems are grouped together, to make it easier for each group to identify the main problems. Not more than four or five main problems should be identified. The field workers then split up into small groups, and each group selects one of the main problems that it considers most important in terms of the local situation.
An in-depth analysis of each problem should now begin. The trainer explains that in field situations the causal analysis of identified main problems is done in focus groups
(e.g. women home garden managers, poor farmers, women with young children). The formation of a focus group assures that the people most affected by and knowledgeable about a given problem work together to explore its causes and suggest possible solutions.
The participants should work in groups to construct a causal model of an identified problem. This should be based on the available case study information and on each participant's knowledge of the local situation to determine the causes of each problem. In analysing the causes of a problem, participants should also think about some of the ways in which households or communities can cope with such problems (e.g. through local self-help groups, working together or sharing resources) and what are the constraints to solving the problems by themselves. Where households cannot solve problems by themselves or the community cannot help, outside assistance from government or other agencies should be considered.
Once the groups have completed their analyses, each group should be requested to choose one or two causes of the problem, which they think can be addressed and may have a positive impact on the problem.
This is followed by each group making a presentation in plenary of its causal model and proposed solutions. Each group presenter should explain why his or her group has chosen the specific causes and solutions for problem solving.
As a last step, the participants are asked to reach a consensus on the main causes of the problems they wish to address through local interventions. The causes are listed on a flip chart. If consensus cannot be reached through discussion in plenary, the trainer should ask the group members to vote on the issue.
The trainer explains that the main purpose of the causal analysis is to identify the main or underlying causes of problems so as to be able to identify actions and interventions that can be developed to address them. It is unrealistic, however, to formulate actions for every cause. Groups are encouraged to organize closely interrelated causes into themes. For example:
The trainer distributes the Case Study Diagnosis so that the participants can compare it with their own diagnoses of the situation.
Based on the outcome of the discussions, the groups should now be ready to formulate a list of priority recommendations for the case study household in order to improve its food and nutrition situation, and be able to explain and justify the choice of action or intervention.
MATERIALS NEEDED
1. The Mulale household has six members (i.e. Mr Mulale, Mrs Mulale and their four children, David, Henry, Ruth and Mary, aged 14, 12, 5 and 1 year, respectively).
Mr Mulale works away from home and is only able to contribute on the farm and in the home garden during his annual holidays, which coincide with the onset of the rainy season. He normally takes care of the land preparation and the planting of field crops. The rest of the agricultural work, including weeding and harvesting, and all the post-harvest activities such as storage, food processing and marketing, are done by Mrs Mulale and the two older children, David and Henry, who go to school early in the morning and assist their mother after school and during school holidays.
2. Eight years ago, the Mulale family lived in a village in a fertile river valley, 400 km away. They were resettled in their present location because of a dam construction project. The rest of their extended family remained in the village of origin because their farms did not fall within the area designated for the construction project.
3. The family was allocated 2.5 ha of farmland, 90 percent of which is upland while the remaining 10 percent is wet lowland. The Mulales established a 300-m2 garden in the wet lowland portion of the farm. The lowland portion of the farm has clay soil and several anthills with clay-to-loam soil, while the rest of the farm has sandy and naturally infertile soil with shallow topsoil. The area has one distinct rainy season (from November through March) and a long and rather hot dry season, with only two to three relatively cool months. The farm is located 4 km from the homestead.
4. The Mulale farm's main rainfed field crops are millet, maize, some cassava, sweet potato, groundnut, cowpea, beans, bambara groundnut and pumpkin. The family is gradually reducing the amount of millet cultivation because millet is more labour intensive and lower yielding than maize. Semi-cultivated varieties of local green leafy vegetables grow spontaneously at the onset of the rains, and Mrs Mulale leaves them to grow amid the planted crops. Sunflower and cotton are the main cash crops grown by the household.
5. Maize is planted in the garden during the rainy season. During the dry season, the Mulales use only 25 percent of the garden and plant a mixture of vegetable plants, namely, tomato, pepper, onion, amaranth, kale, cabbage, okra and beans. The leafy vegetables are often attacked by pests, such as grasshoppers. Other crops that the family has planted in the garden include three big mango trees, two 5-year-old papaya trees and sugar cane. Shortly after the family settled in the village, Mr Mulale dug a shallow well, which provides water for irrigation, drinking and general household use. The two older children assist their mother with tasks on the farm and in the garden, and fetch water for the household. The main crops grown in the Mulales' home garden and on the family farm are listed in Table 6.1.
6. An agricultural extension worker visits the Mulales twice a year (once fairly early during the agricultural season and once close to the harvest period). Apart from assessing the status of the crops and preparing reports for the district office, the agricultural extension worker provides technical advice on maize, cotton and sunflower production.
7. On the Mulale farm there are distinct seasonal shortages of staple food. The cereal harvest is adequate to feed the family for only five months. After the harvest, the family eats three daily meals. But, two months after the harvest, the family reduces its intake to two meals a day in order to make sure their stocks see them through to the next harvest, and then, during a large part of the four-month rainy season, the family eats only one meal a day. Generally, the family uses cassava to prepare the main dish only when the cereal stocks are low. Processing cassava flour becomes a problem during the rains because the amount of sun needed to dry the grated cassava is not always assured. When there is no cassava flour to prepare the main dish, Mrs Mulale must boil green leafy vegetables (pumpkin, cowpea and the wide variety of semi-cultivated local varieties), which are abundant at this time of the year. Mrs Mulale may add only a little groundnut paste to the vegetable dish because bean and groundnut stocks are at their lowest at this time of the year.
8. During the dry season, there is a shortage of ingredients to make the relish. Inadequate water and labour, as well as pest infestation, result in low yields in garden produce. Mrs Mulale occasionally buys large fish from the fish vendors who periodically pass through the village.
9. Apart from purchasing other non-food requirements such as school uniforms, books, soap and cooking fuel, Mrs Mulale uses the income from selling cotton and sunflower to buy other foods, such as cooking oil, salt and sugar. Mr Mulale usually purchases small quantities of fertilizer and seeds for maize, sunflower and cotton, and brings these with him when he goes home for his annual holidays, at the onset of the rains.
10. The family diet consists of maize, millet or cassava, from which a stiff porridge is prepared and served with a vegetable relish. During the rainy season, the relish is prepared from leafy greens and, depending on availability, cooking oil, groundnut paste and tomatoes or onions. During and shortly after harvest, Mrs Mulale varies the relish considerably, alternating the bean, cowpea and fish relishes. As legume stocks dwindle three to four months after the harvest, however, she must reduce the frequency with which she prepares the relish from legumes and rely again on leafy vegetables from the garden. These are often inadequate, and she occasionally buys dried fish to complement them. The family eats meat (mostly chicken) only on special occasions.
11. The Mulale children eat plenty of fruits when they are in season (January and February for mangoes, May to December for papayas). These are usually eaten between meals. Other snacks include boiled or roasted green maize, when in season, boiled sweet potatoes or cassava, sugar cane and groundnuts. Most of the mangoes go to waste; they are available in abundance, and the children cannot eat them all. There is no local market for mangoes since most of their neighbours also have mango trees, and
Mrs Mulale cannot go to the nearest town to sell them, since she has no one to take care of the smaller children in her absence.
12. When Mary reached seven months of age, Mrs Mulale introduced complementary foods, giving her maize or millet porridge with salt added twice a day. When it was available, Mrs Mulale also added one or two teaspoons of sugar. At nine months, Mary started eating food from the family pot, such as thick porridge with the liquid portion of the relish, boiled sweet potatoes and boiled pumpkin. Mrs Mulale continued breastfeeding Mary and fed her porridge only once a day (in the mornings). Now that Mary is one year old and has several teeth, she eats most of the family foods and
Mrs Mulale no longer prepares porridge for her in the mornings.
13. It is the rainy season, and Mrs Mulale takes the two youngest children, Ruth and Mary, with her to the field. Mary is still being breastfed. If possible, Mrs Mulale takes the leftovers from the previous night's meal to feed the children before going back home to cook the only meal of the day. Otherwise she feeds them mangoes from the garden. Ruth and Mary are rather small (short) compared with other children of
their age.
14. The household has no latrine, and household refuse, including wood ash, is thrown in a corner of the compound. The nearest clinic is 10 km away. Mrs Mulale takes the children there only when they are extremely sick. For minor ailments such as upset stomach and coughs, she takes them to the local traditional healer.
15. During the rains, the youngest child, Mary, is often sick with diarrhoea, vomiting and fever. During the lean period, the older children frequently go to school without having eaten a morning meal. They often complain of headaches, and when they are not well they stay home from school.
16. The family owns three oxen and a few chickens that roam the compound. Mr Mulale has made arrangements with the neighbours, who often assist his wife, to look after the cattle.
TABLE 6.1
Crops produced in the case study home garden
Crop |
Number of plants |
Area in square metres |
% bearing |
% non-bearing |
Amaranth |
10 |
100 |
||
Beans |
150 |
50 |
50 | |
Cabbage |
10 |
|||
Cassava |
300 |
100 |
||
Cowpea |
50 |
100 |
||
Groundnut |
100 |
50 |
50 | |
Kale |
20 |
Continuous |
||
Maize |
500 |
75 |
25 | |
Mango |
1 |
100 |
||
Millet |
300 |
70 |
30 | |
Okra |
20 |
100 |
||
Onion |
10 |
|||
Papaya |
2 |
60 |
40 | |
Pumpkin, leaves |
10 |
100 |
||
Sugar cane |
100 |
Harvest as required |
||
Sweet potato |
150 |
70 |
30 | |
Tomato |
5 |
1. There are six family members, and it should be possible to feed them well from the family farm and garden. However, Mr Mulale lives far away from the village and contributes only marginally to the food production and care of the family. Mrs Mulale, assisted by the two older children, does most of the agricultural work, in addition to the post-harvest activities and the domestic chores of food preparation and child care.
2. Because the family moved from its village of origin, Mrs Mulale lacks the usual extended family support, which includes education and help from older female family members.
3. Before resettlement, the family grew crops in a fertile river valley and never had to worry about enriching the soil. Rains brought fertile silt down to the river valley, and the family reaped the benefits. As a result, the Mulales have no experience in improving soil fertility. Furthermore, irrigating water was not a concern. They used residual moisture during the early part of the dry season and relied on extremely shallow wells for the remaining part of the dry season.
4. Although millet is better adapted to the semi-arid regions than maize, the family prefers to grow maize because of its better cash returns and relatively low labour demand on Mrs Mulale. They are encouraged by the agricultural extension workers, who give technical advice on maize and other cash crops. However, hybrid maize does not have good drought-tolerant characteristics, and by planting it, the family risks losing its major crop due to uncertain weather patterns and periodic droughts.
5. In the Mulales' village of origin, there were reasonable quantities of green grass and weeds during the dry season because of residual moisture. Grasshoppers and other pests were not a major threat to dry-season gardening. Now, Mrs Mulale is unsure of how to cope with the pests in her current garden.
6. Since agricultural extension advice focuses only on maize and cash crops, little attention has been given to the production of other crops that are important for household consumption, including some of the cereals (e.g. millet, sorghum), legumes, oilseeds and fresh vegetables and fruits.
7. Daily meal frequency is strongly influenced by the availability of the staple food. As stocks of the staple are depleted during the latter part of the dry season and during the rainy season, the number of meals eaten daily is reduced. Although seasonal vegetables and fruit increase during the rains and improve the quality of the diet, overall food consumption is inadequate to meet nutritional needs.
8. Supplementing garden produce with fish depends largely on two factors: the availability of income to purchase the fish, and the frequency with which the fish vendors come to the village.
9. Most of the income accrued from cash crops (cotton and sunflower) goes towards meeting the non-food needs of the household. A fairly small proportion goes towards purchasing some basic food items that the family does not produce, including oil and sugar. Most of Mr Mulale's income goes towards his living expenses at his off-farm job and the annual purchase of agricultural inputs.
10. The household diet during and shortly after harvest is adequate in energy and nutritionally well balanced. In the following months, however, it gradually deteriorates and is at its worst during the rains. Since the rainy season is also a period of infectious diseases and high agricultural labour demand, the inadequate food ingested is not effectively used by the body, which further undermines the nutritional status of the household members, especially the children.
11. Fruit-tree varieties and snacks for the children are rather limited. There is a mango tree, but production is seasonal. Mrs Mulale's heavy workload during the rainy season and the needs of her small children do not allow her to sell surplus mangoes in the marketplace. Besides, there is universal access to mangoes (mango trees are common property resources), so the market demand for them is extremely low. Furthermore, the papaya trees are old and need to be replaced, but planting materials are not available locally and the fruit-tree nursery is 50 km away.
12. Mrs Mulale is still breastfeeding the youngest child, Mary, and introduced solids at the appropriate time. However, the frequency of feeding and the quality of the food require improvement. The thick porridge and the liquid portion of the relish do not give Mary adequate energy or the right variety of the micronutrients she requires to grow and develop well.
13. Food shortages, coupled with the heavy workload in the rainy season, critically affect the amount and quality of food the children eat. The two youngest children are vulnerable to malnutrition and show signs of slow growth. None of the children's growth charts are regularly filled. The health centre is far away, and Mrs Mulale uses its services as curative rather than preventive. She takes the children only when they are extremely ill and each time the children are found to be underweight.
14/15. Sanitary conditions at the homestead are poor. Infectious diseases and malaria are problems, and the older children's low food intake makes it difficult for them to help their mother in the fields or to benefit effectively from the school programme.
16. Three head of oxen do not ensure continuity of the cattle. If the household had at least one cow, instead of three oxen, it could benefit from the cow's milk, which could be consumed at home and sold. Poultry rearing can also be improved. Keeping the chickens in a fenced-in area could prevent crop destruction. In addition, the chicken manure could be collected easily and used to enrich the poor sandy soils, thus improving crop production.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the information given in the case study and the results of the group work, one of the main conclusions will be that there are many ways of improving the situation. The starting point must be a good understanding of the local food and nutrition problems as well as their causes. The local extension staff and the local people involved must reach a better understanding of the problems before they can be tackled.
The nature of the problems highlighted in the case study calls for an intersectional approach to problem solving, that is, collaboration of the agriculture, health, education and community development sectors. A review of the case study and its diagnosis leads to the following suggestions for improving nutrition through home gardening:
