What is it about?
In the year 2010, Biodiversity International launched a multiyear campaign in support of food biodiversity. The campaign was meant to promote documentation and sustainable use of the rich local available foods. It is believed that documentation of the rich local food biodiversity will increase more awareness of the existing foods and will open up for more studies on this important topic. It is further argued that the understanding of food and their nutritional values will translate into a revival of the use of these foods. This study is relevant especially now because diets of many households are monotonous and consist of very few items. It is not clear if this is related to the number of species of organisms present in a given area. The study aimed to document foods available and consumed in the study area in an attempt to promote use. More consumption of the foods will contribute to dietary diversity. Dietary diversity simply means increases the number of food groups to the meal. A few examples of food groups are cereals, vegetables, fish, and milk just to mention a few. For many years, many households especially in rural setups consumes least diversified diets. Consumption of least diversified diets is a risk factor for malnutrition and ill health. A diversified diet widens a chance to increase the intake of a wide range of nutrients and other active ingredients that may help to prevent ill health.
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Why is it important?
Our findings show that the surveyed areas have great diversity in the number of crops, animals, and insects present. The majority of the rural communities perceived wild edible foods as inferior, and the majority of these identified foods were rarely consumed. The findings from this study have added to the body of knowledge by documenting the types of foods that are available in the study areas and the mean numbers of food items that are actually consumed at the household level. Also highlighted is the concept of perception with regard to food consumption and adoption strategies in food access. Thus, households consumed very few food items that it would have actually been expected compared to foods available in their areas.
Perspectives
We hope this article will be make people reflect on what they eat and so the general community. We also think that is an important study and is timely. Food consumption is key to everything we wish to do. It is through healthy eating in this case a diversified diet through rich food biodiversity that we can all enjoy whatever we do. The article will takes back the reader to what we have been to understand "We are what we eat''. It is envisaged that the readers will reconsider food an an important strategy to bring about national development. The more we advocate for diversified food production systems and promote the use of food biodiversity while at the same time preserving the rich local knowledge the will increase a chance to graduate from the cycle of malnutrition and food insecurity. Therefore, we hope that you will find this article thought-provoking.
JULIUS NTWENYA
University of Dodoma
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Rich Food Biodiversity Amid Low Consumption of Food Items in Kilosa District, Tanzania, Food and Nutrition Bulletin, October 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0379572117708647.
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