Pretoria - Statistics indicate that the general intake of fresh fruit and vegetables by South Africans is below the World Health Organisation (WHO) daily requirements, yet the country is rich in edible plants that could address food insecurity.
This issue was discussed by researchers during the Water Research Commission Symposium on Water Use and Nutritional Value of Indigenous and Traditional and Nutritional South African Underutilised Food Crops for Improved Livelihood, held at Farm Inn in the city.
The prescribed 400g daily intake of fruits and vegetables is recommended by WHO to protect against communicable diseases.
Researchers said traditional leafy vegetables – rich sources of nutrients and antioxidants – were usually associated with poverty, yet they helped in reducing malnutrition. People are not aware of the nutritional value of these crops and often looked down on them.
“While South Africa produces enough food for local use and export, a lot of poor people still go to bed hungry despite the presence of highly nutritious leafy vegetables in the country,” said keynote speaker Thabo Ramashala, director of plant production in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
“About 14 million people are still food-insecure, with research indicating that households are becoming increasingly dependent on social grants – a situation which is not sustainable in the long term.”
South Africa has focused little on indigenous food species while the rest of the world has taken note of their commercial value. For example, dovyalis caffra (kei apple) are cultivated in California; and horned melons (cucumis metuliferus) are produced commercially in New Zealand, France, Israel and California and exported widely.
Water Research Commission scientific investigations have indicated that some traditional leafy vegetable plants can tolerate drought, which makes them ideal for smallholder farms where water is limited.
Cowpea was found to be the most drought-tolerant crop, followed by nightshade, pumpkin and tsamma melon. Amaranth (imbuya) was the most heat-tolerant crop. For optimum growth, water requirements for the leafy vegetables studied ranged between 240mm and 463mm.
Some traditional leafy plants provide more than 50 percent of the recommended daily allowance for Vitamin A, and all eight vegetables studied provided at least 30 percent of the estimated average requirement.
The vegetables provided varying amounts of other nutrients, such as protein and mineral elements, and fibre. - Pretoria News