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Vegetable gardens:A nexus for agriculture, nutrition
& healthRobert J. Holmer
Regional DirectorAVRDC – The World Vegetable Center in East and Southeast Asia
Learning event 9: From field to fork to field: nutritious food and nutrient recycling to
enhance health, wealth and resilience
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Research to promote development
• Founded in 1971 as the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center with a regional research focus on Asia.
• Our research and development is nonprofit.Our research outputs are international public goods.
• Re-branded in 2008 as AVRDC - The World
Vegetable Center. • We have an expanding global role with a growing
network of regional offices
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AVRDC in 2011
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The World Vegetable Centervegetables + development
4 / The world’s largest public sector collection of vegetable
germplasm
No. of accessions 59,294No. of species 435No. of countries of origin 155Total lines dispatched 6,119
We now need: Not a Green Revolution, but a Revolution with Greens!
We now need: Not a Green Revolution, but a Revolution with Greens!
AVRDC Genebank
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Imbalanced Food Systems
27 % of adults overweight or obese
“Double burden of disease”
26 % of children underweightSource: FNRI 2008
For example in the Philippines:
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= HUNGERDeficiency in calories + protein
≥ 1.02 billion underweight
= MICRONUTRIENTDEFICIENCY
Deficiency in vitamins & minerals
2 – 3.5 billion
= IMBALANCED CONSUMPTION
ExcessCalories
Physicalinactivity
≥ 2.0 billion overweight
malnourished
Source: FAO (2009); WHO (2006)
Imbalanced Food Systems
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Malnutrition
• Vitamin A deficiency– causes blindness and impairs the
immune system of about 40 % of the children under the age of five in developing countries, causing about one million child deaths annually
• Anemia– Every day, 300 women die in childbirth
as a result of iron deficiency anemia, accounting for 20 % of global maternal mortality
– Anemia among children can impair health and development, limit learning capacity, impair immune systems and reduce adult work performance.
Normal concentration and size of red blood
cells
Decreased concentration and size of red blood
cells
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National vegetable availability vs. health/nutrition status:
Health status indicator:Children under 5 mortality rate
Nutrition status indicator:Children under 5 underweight
CountriesVeg availability (g/ person/day)
Mortality rate (1/1000) Underweight (%)
Cambodia 85 93 36Lao PDR 397 75 37Viet Nam 230 30 20
Source: FAOSTAT (2010), WHO (2010)
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Relationship between malnutrition and infection
Source: Brown (2003)
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Malnutrition and the link to sanitation
• Effects of malnutrition – mortality, impairment of cognitive development and educational performance - can cost up to 9% of a country’s Gross Domestic Product.
• Health impacts can be prevented by reducing environmental health risks (e.g. improved sanitation, water and hygiene) and improved nutrition
• Multiplier effect: for every death prevented from an environmental health intervention, additional deaths from other diseases are averted (Mills-Reincke phenomenon)
Source: World Bank (2008)
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Food and Nutrition Security
• Nutrition security:– “secure access to
appropriately nutritious food coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health services and care, to ensure a healthy and active life for all household members”
Source: DFID (2009)
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Why vegetables?
• High value crops• Relatively easy to grow in different
environments• Provide employment, especially for
women and other vulnerable groups• Generate income• Provide micronutrients, vitamins,
dietary fiber, phytochemicals and protein
• Contribute to balanced diets Vegetables
3-5 servings a day
1 serving = 80g
240 – 400g a day
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Vegetable production can take place in
small spaces and can still be productive.
Ingenuity is the key!
Why vegetables?
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Indigenous treasures
Spider plant
Nightshade
Slippery cabbage CowpeaAmaranth
African eggplant
Butterfly pea
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Many indigenous vegetables have high nutritional content, they are relatively very high in calcium, vitamin C and iron as compared to onions and tomatoes
194
186
44
135
157
9
270
23
9
75
113
37
120
157
10
42
7
30
3
2.2
0.9
1.7
1.3
1
3
0.2
0.6
4.4
4.4
1.8
3.3
3.2
1.1
3.5
1.1
0.9
5.8
2.7
0.4
4.6
0.9
0.5
1.7
0
0.2
Slide source: adapted from Dalberg Report for BMGFData source: "Advancing urban agriculture through use of indigenous vegetables: African experiences 2009; Chapter 3”, by Ray-Yu Yang and Gudrun B. Keding
Indigenous treasures
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Why home gardens?
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Berlin, 1946
Anything new?
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... preparing the land
Allotment Gardens Philippines
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Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)
Jeannette M.E. Tramhel. 2010. Using Participatory Urban Design to "Close the Nutrient Loop" in the Philippines. Urban Agriculture Magazine 23 - Urban nutrient management, 30-31.
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NUTRIENTS NUTRIENTS
Closing the loopbetween
sanitation and agriculture
FOODFOOD
Pathogen destruction
Ecological Sanitation
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Nitrogen
(kg/capita)
Phosphorous
(kg/capita)
Potassium
(kg/capita)
Urine 2.3 – 4.0 0.3 – 0.4 0.9 - 1.1
Faeces 0.3 – 0.6 0.1 – 0.2 0.3 - 0.4
Total 2.6 – 4.6 0.4 – 0.6 1.2 – 1.5
Estimated annual excretion of nutrients per person (500 l of urine and 50 kg of faeces)*:
Ecological Sanitation
* flushed away with about 10,000 liters of water as medium of transportation
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Monetary equivalents (PhP/capita and year) of annual excretion of nutrients: per person:
Amount(kg/year)
Cost(PhP/kg)
Subtotal(PhP/year)
Complete (14-14-14) 6.53 35.60 232.47
Urea (46-0-0) 3.65 33.20 121.18
MoP (0-0-60) 0.96 38.00 36.48
Total 390.13
Multiplied by 90 million Filipinos:
35.1 Billion Pesos (580 Mio Euro) worth of fertilizer equivalents go down the drain every year polluting
water bodies.
Ecological Sanitation
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How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
Ecological Sanitation
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Ecological Sanitation
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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6 months 1 month
Primary treatment (storage)
Ecological Sanitation
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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Diluting urine with water
Side dress application
Preplant application of composted faeces
Ecological Sanitation
Reuse of ecosan products
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Ecological Sanitation
Secondary treatment (aerobic & vermicomposting)
How a “waterless” urine diversion dehydration toilet works
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NUTRIENTS NUTRIENTS
FOOD
Ecological Sanitation
• International guidelines are available, but:
• Lack of R&D investment to develop local protocols that best suit the agronomic requirements of the crops grown as well as the specific socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental realities of many developing countries
• “Nexus”: another catchphrase or real commitment?
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Healthy diets begin with knowledge
• A school usually is the center of each community
• A place where programs on good health practices can be taught and implemented to achieve behavioral changes at home.
Potential of School Gardens
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Advantages of school-based programs
• Promoting good health and nutrition before and during school age is essential to effective growth and development
• The pre-existing infrastructure of the educational system offers a cost-effective route for delivery of simple health interventions
Good health and nutrition are prerequisites for effective learning
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Philippine “Vegetable Gardens in Schools” Program
• Establishment of vegetable gardens in all 42,076 public primary and secondary schools of the country
• To be complemented by home & community gardens
Earlier successful lessons of vegetable gardening have to be re-learned by a new generation
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Strategies for successful implementation
• Successful school garden programs cannot be created in isolation, but have to be linked with education and environmental interventions
• Communication and synergy between the health, agriculture and education sectors is indispensable
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Promotion of vegetables…
…. sanitation, and healthy lifestyles
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Prosperity for the Poor and Health for All
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AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center