This is a follow-up story on a series of special reports published in 2015 from Vihiga County, Kenya, where Humidtropics researchers are empowering the community to better use available agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition all the year round. In this report, the author describes a series of events organized by the communities to start the interventions that aim to improve their nutrition. These events included everyone bringing along their diverse local food dishes, including a dish of living termites which are a great source of animal protein. Rural populations in developing … [Read more...]
Introducing Tomatoes to Hmong Women in Northwest Vietnam
Spanish conquerors encountering tomato in Central America in the 15th century thought the suspicious-looking berries must be poisonous. Five centuries later, a Hmong woman in the northern uplands of Vietnam was equally suspicious of the tomato plants in her backyard garden. Never having eaten tomato before, she thought the fruit was sour and malodorous at first. The plants were introduced as part of a pilot to test improved home gardens for isolated communities of ethnic minorities in the northern uplands of Vietnam. Hmong ethnic people typically live in remote areas with limited market … [Read more...]
Nutrition in Kenya: Putting Nutritious Diversity Back on the Plate
This is Part 1 of three special reports from Vihiga County, Kenya, where a Humidtropics research project is empowering the community to better use available agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition all the year round. What is the research initiative? In August 2014, Humidtropics researchers from Bioversity International launched a research project entitled A Participatory approach to improve dietary diversity in Vihiga County. The project supports communities to develop, implement and monitor their own action plans for sustainable production of nutritious foods to improve dietary … [Read more...]