Indigenous Vegetables Can Fight Poverty

from All Africa

New Vision (Kampala)

By John Kasozi
Kampala

VEGETABLES have always been part of the diet of the communities around Lake Victoria. Caleb Bangirana, a farmer in Kamubeizi in Isingiro district says: "Our negative tendencies towards vegetables are changing. I inter-crop exotic and African indigenous vegetables in my banana plantation.

In 2005, Bangirana started working with Charles Kazooba, a lecturer at Mbarara University and they started growing vegetables on a commercial basis.

"Thirty homesteads in our parish have taken on commercial farming of vegetables, which they sell in Isingiro and Mbarara districts," says Penelope Musiime, Bangirana's wife.

Musiime adds that her family raises between sh30,000 and sh50,000 every month from the sale of vegetables. "We expect to triple our income if the transport network improves in the district."

A good number of local African vegetables were identified under the Lake Victoria Research Initiative, a project aiming at reducing poverty through improved food security and generating income among communities in the Lake Victoria region.

It also aims at developing and promoting technology for the production of African vegetables. These include amaranthus (dodo), African nightshade (nakati), cowpeas, eggplant, spider plant (Jjobyo), African kale (sukumawiki), pumpkin and bitter berries (katunkuma).

"These vegetables grow widely with little care. They are well adapted to all ecological zones and grow without succumbing to diseases and pests that destroy exotic vegetables," explains Kazooba.

Kazooba says the research indicates that vegetables have a high nutritive value. Nakati grows naturally and widely in East Africa. It also has a long picking period when well managed. Nakati is rich in proteins, calcium, iron, phosphorus and magnesium. Amaranthus grows wild and widely all over the tropics. Its grains are rich in proteins and amino acids including lysine and tryptophan, which cannot be got from cereals. The grains can be milled with wheat, maize, sorghum or millet to enhance their protein quality.

Jjobyo is rich in iron, magnesium, proteins, fibre and phosphorus. Its medicinal uses include the prevention of gout and anaemia.

Under the project, a study about the African vegetables has been conducted in Bondo in Kenya, Mbarara in Uganda and Magu in Tanzania. Surveys were also carried out in 18 markets in Bondo, 13 in Mbarara and 10 in Magu under which 201 traders were interviewed.

They concluded that the spider plant does well in soils rich in organic matter and can be inter-cropped with French beans and collards to reduce pest infestation.