‘Put greens, beans at centre of food systems’

GREENS and beans advocates are appealing to relevant authorities to place the produce at the centre of food systems in order to strengthen resilience and nutrition within the African Continent.

Such a call comes as the AGRF Africa Food Systems Forum 2023 convenes in Dar es Salaam from today with a goal of bringing inclusive, equitable, sustainable and resilient food systems to address the current global food security crisis.

The Director General of the World Vegetable Centre, Mr Marco Wopereis issued the call on the sidelines of the AGRF side event on putting greens and beans at the centre of nutrition and resilient food systems which took place at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in Dar es Salaam, yesterday.

Mr Wopereis called upon countries to prioritise investment on seed systems, production systems and aggregation of greens and beans.

“Africa needs to invest in quality seeds which are highly nutritious and resilient so as to cater for consumer demand,” said Mr Wopereis.

He noted that there is a big challenge relating to sufficient beans and greens in the African food system, noting that in particular vegetables are critically under-consumed in the continent.

“Only 40 per cent of the minimum 240 grammes is consumed per day. This is a very big problem because it causes malnutrition as vegetables are critical for vitamins, minerals, fibers and vital nutrients,” he noted.

To be able to meet the required consumption, he said the continent needs to invest in many directions including awareness creation, so that people realise the importance of eating vegetables and beans as an important requirement for people’s health.

He also singled out the need to introduce these important requirements during early childhood development by ensuring children have access to nutritious food by incorporating vegetables and beans in school meals programmes.

Mr Woperis called upon policy makers to put more emphasis on the production of greens and beans, stressing on the domestic horticulture sector and consumers in Africa.

Besides, ways should be established to ensure production is carried out throughout the year irrespective of the climate.

He noted that over the years climate change has brought about a lot of uncertainties, shocks, therefore bringing in vegetables creates a lot of resilience to shocks.

For her part, a representative of Milele Agroprocessing Limited in Malawi Ms Gloria Phekani disclosed that the challenge for clean seed material was almost catastrophic in the continent because there has been a lot of handout material of seeds.

She observed the need to ensure farmers understand how seeds are developed by scientists working with them to identify the needs.

“Most farmers use recycled seeds, which is detrimental. If farmers really understand that recycled seeds are bringing about their own detriment they will change and do better,” said Ms Phekani.

She added: “If you don’t have clean material seed, even your own yield will not be attractive, especially when using recycled beans it changes formation and hence it will not be marketable because it’s not the real type and won’t get consumer acceptance in the market,” she said.

A Scientist on Traditional Vegetables Conservation and Utilisation at World Vegetable Centre, Dr Sognigbe N’Danikou indicated numerous challenges including climate change, nutrition, high malnutrition, thus called for combined efforts from both public and private sectors to enhance the availability of quality seeds that meet the needs of the different actors of the value chain.

The Director of the Tanzania Chapter of the World Vegetable Centre, Dr Gabriel Rugalema revealed that greens and beans  entails food and nutrition, a source of income among many families especially women and youths.

“Greens and beans are important crops not only for individuals but for national security as people feed and satisfy their hunger and prevent themselves from disease,” he stated.