MALNUTRITION: Moringa Oleifera 'miracle' tree

Jul 20, 2011 : Mhlaba Memela
A "MIRACLE" tree from India and West Africa has been touted as a solution to the world's malnutrition problem, according to research by a scientist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The leaves of the Moringa Oleifera tree contains more vitamin A than carrots, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, and more vitamin C than oranges.

And the protein quality in the leaves rivals that of milk and eggs, said Dr Samson Tesfay of the University of KwaZulu- Natal's horticultural science department.
Tesfay, who completed his doctoral thesis last year on avocados as a source of energy and antioxidants, was conducting laboratory tests on Moringa seeds.
The Moringa Oleifera, also called the drumstick tree for its long, thin, triangular seed pods, has been used by Indian people for centuries.
Tesfay said it was unique in that every part of it can be used for beneficial purposes.
"It has medicinal, therapeutic, nutritive and practical uses," he said.
He said the immature seed pods, full of essential amino acids, can also be eaten raw or cooked.
"In parts of Southern and East Africa, Moringa trees have been cultivated for water purification," he said.
But with earth's oil reserves running low, one of the Moringa tree's potential uses, said Tesfay, was as a raw material for the production of bio-fuel.
Tesfay added that the tree, which can tolerate drought and survive in poor, sandy soils, does not require expensive farming methods.
The iLembe district municipality on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast has collaborated with Tesfay on a Moringa plantation project which plans to enlist small-scale emerging farmers to grow the trees and harvest the pods for biodiesel processing.
Tesfay hopes to raise awareness of the nutritional value of the tree to fight malnutrition.
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/07/20/ballyhoo-over-rare-miracle-tree

MALNUTRITION: Flood-resistant rice 'also has drought-proof trait'

4 March 2011 By Mark Kinver

Rice is the staple food for about half of the world's population Continue reading the main story

A gene that increases a rice plant's resistance to floods also boosts its ability to recover from droughts, a study has shown.
Researchers found that the gene, Sub1A, allowed to plants to survive by growing fresh shoots after a period of drought.
Rice is the primary food for three billion people, and more than 25% the world's harvest is grown in areas that experience extreme weather conditions.
Details have been published in the journal The Plant Cell.
"Flood tolerance does not reduce drought tolerance in these plants, and appears to even benefit them when they encounter drought," observed lead author Julia Bailey-Serres from the University of California Riverside's department of botany and plant sciences.
The gene's role in providing rice plants with a higher tolerance of being submerged in water was first identified in 2006, just 12 months after the vital food crop's complete genome was unscrambled.
Professor Bailey-Serres and her team wanted to follow up the discovery of the "flood-proof" trait provided by the presence of the Sub1A gene did not reduce plants' ability cope with other environmental stresses - such as drought.



A rice plant containing the Sub1A gene (at right in each image) recovered significantly better after a simulated drought

They reported that the gene served as a point where the pathways of the plant's response to both submergence and drought, resulting in the crop's ability to survive and recover from either kind of extreme weather event.
"Our findings suggest that the plant recovers well from drought and growing new shoots," Professor Bailey-Serres said. "This is something that is also seen with flooding."
Plant breeders have already utilised the gene's flood tolerance traits and transferred it into high-yielding varieties.
The researchers said the next stage of the research would involve scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) plant specimens containing the Sub1A gene in field trials to see if they display a similar trait in natural conditions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12636902

MALNUTRITION: Empowered farmers cultivate a new hope for Benin

10 February 2011 [MediaGlobal]Toni Bacala

 Successful farming practices in Benin. (Photo Credit: Christoph Herby)

 In the fields of Benin, a green revolution has placed local farmers at the forefront of the battle against malnutrition. With the establishment of Association Béninoise du Moringa (ABM), Beninese farmers have expanded the production and promotion of moringa to nourish the ailing West African nation.
Widely acclaimed as a “miracle tree,” moringa is fast-growing and possesses multiple benefits, from nutritional leaves, flowers, and seeds, to drought-resistant roots and bark. Moringa leaves are usually consumed fresh in green salads, or sautéd. In health programs, leaves are dried and ground into powder, then sprinkled on any dish for instant nutritional boost.
It has been traditionally used in South and Central Asia, India, and the Middle East as livestock feed, biofuel, medicine, water purifying agent, and soil fertilizer, among many other uses.
In the mid-1990s, the US Peace Corps initiated moringa promotion in the country in keeping with nutritional campaigns all over West Africa.
Despite such assistance, however, Benin has long lagged behind in the region, as compared to Niger, which has been producing moringa as a cash crop, and Senegal, which integrated moringa into HIV/AIDS treatment in the late 1990s.
“The value of this plant cannot be downplayed as regards its possibility to address some of the Millennium Development Goals as well as to influence the ongoing debates on climate change,” said Muriel Glasgow, founder of Moringa Partners, an interactive outfit of moringa growers, scientists, non-government organizations and other enthusiasts from all over the world.
Benin has had its hands full battling against malnutrition. According to UNICEF, one out of every three Beninese children below the age of five has experienced malnutrition. The country’s health crisis is aggravated by recent floods that have displaced thousands of residents, devastated farms, and destroyed access to clean, potable water. Foreign agencies have stepped in with food assistance and nutrition programs, but for the people of Benin, a longer-term solution is needed.
In 2008, a pilot project in the town of Goumori drew closer attention to moringa. The first batch of moringa powder produced was sold out in one week, encouraging farmers to share their knowledge so others could grow the plant.
As communities increasingly grasped the nutritional and economic benefits of moringa, volunteers and farmers saw the need for a mechanism to manage the future of moringa in Benin. Thus, ABM was born.
“We envisioned an organization that would promote moringa on a national scale and facilitate a market for moringa thereby taking the responsibility of promoting moringa and creating a market off the farmers themselves,” former US Peace Corps volunteer Christoph Herby told MediaGlobal.
Last August, the vision came to fruition at the widely participated launch of ABM.
Moringa industry in Benin has flourished notably as ABM facilitates more farmers growing moringa alongside other crops as an additional source of income, and as an affordable supplement for malnutrition.
Through ABM, efforts of farmers, which were usually confined in their own fields and villages, are stretched out to markets and other moringa producers across the country. “Ultimately the goal is to create nationwide demand for moringa powder, satisfied by a network of well-supervised moringa plantations,” said Herby.
ABM sets the production standard to strategically incorporate moringa into nutrition programs. One of its key activities is conducting workshops with farmers, health workers, and students. Since its launch, there has been a spirited demand for orientation on moringa cultivation and processing, informed ABM technical assistant Patrick Starr.
Benin’s health agenda has inspired the expansion of moringa networks such as Moringa Partners, which reaches out to growers from Cameroon, Ethiopia, India, Costa Rica, and the Philippines.
“On a larger scale, [the] Peace Corps is increasing its focus on food security,” said Herby. “And moringa is being considered a primary component in Peace Corps’ food security planning for the West Africa sub-region.”
“The world is still learning about moringa,” said Glasgow, optimistic that more moringa benefits will be developed as a worldwide demand is set in motion.
While ABM acknowledges that it will take years to see tangible effects of the program, the empowerment of Beninese farmers has resulted in the cultivation of hope, health, and abundance beyond quantifiable terms.
http://mediaglobal.org/article/2011-02-10/empowered_farmers_cultivate_a_new_hope_for_benin

POVERTY: “Magic tree seeds” to purify dirty water

 Photo: Courtesy of Educational Concerns For Hunger Organization
Water before being treated and afterwards

BANGKOK, 10 February 2011 (IRIN) - One solution to the water woes of many of the world’s poor may lie in the pea-sized seeds of the widely grown Moringa oleifera tree, experts say.
“The Moringa oleifera [seed technique] can be an important, sustainable and affordable method towards waterborne disease reduction and can improve the quality of life for a large proportion of the poor,” Micheal Lea, author and researcher with Clearinghouse, an Ottawa-based organization researching low-cost water purification technologies, told IRIN.
According to Lea’s 2010 publication, seeds from the Moringa, a tree (also described as a shrub) which grows in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, can be crushed into a powder and mixed with surface water to produce a 90-99 percent bacterial reduction, making untreated water safely drinkable.
The technique is not new. Communities in Sudan have been using the multi-purpose Moringa tree as a source of food and as a water purifier for centuries.
The plant is fast-growing, nutritious, edible and drought resistant, and can be grown in your backyard. Its seeds are soft and can be crushed using everyday tools, such as a spoon and a bowl. (see video)
The ability to purify water using such accessible techniques, and others has significant life-saving potential.
Globally, approximately 1.1 billion people do not have access to drinking water and diarrhoea remains the leading cause of illness and death, according to the latest UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report.
With the number of people without access to safe water expected to rise to two billion by 2025, several independent Moringa tree cultivation projects have started in the past few years.

Moringa plantations in Ghana
In the Breman Baako village of Ghana, the Moringa Community organization has cultivated Moringa plantations which several thousand people live off as a food source.
“The Moringa is protein and vitamin rich, so people eat the leaves and use the seeds as a spice on food,” said Abu Bakkar Abdulai, Ghana country director of the Moringa Community. “But there is a need for clean water so we are trying to inform the communities about this other technique as well.”

Limitations
While the technique has potential, Kebreab Ghebremichael, a water purification expert with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Water Education, says it would be best used at the household level.
“The technique is easy and inexpensive and many people already have this tree in their backyards,” said Ghebremichael, who studied the Moringa tree seed purifying technique for his PhD. "However, non-processed Moringa cannot be used in centralized large water systems… because the organic content from the seed may give taste and odour problems if it stands for a long time before consumption.”
The Moringa seed purification technique works best for purifying surface water, such as rivers, streams, lakes and ditches, but not for underground water sources. So it would not be able to resolve the problem of natural arsenic poisoning that afflicts many populations in Asia.
“This method is not a silver bullet, but could be used during emergencies and where people have no resources to treat the water they drink from,” Lea said.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?Reportid=91879