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By Lowell
J. Fuglie-(image)
Lowell Fuglie on UMTV
The advantages of
using Moringa in
malnutrition prevention programs
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I n the African context , Moringa Oleifera is a very simple and readily available tool to help prevent malnutrition. It is a drought-resistant and fast growing tree which is present in nearly all tropical and sub-tropical countries for names of Moringa ( Moringa Oleifera ) in West African countries). Its edible leaves are already an occasional food source in West Africa regions and appear at the end of the dry season: a time when other greens are in short supply.
As a source of good nutrition, its leaves
are considered the best of tropical legumes with its
high quantities of vitamin
A and significant quantities of vitamin C, calcium, iron,
protein, potassium, magnesium, selenium, zinc and a good balance
of all the essential amino acids.
Also, the leaves can be easily dried into
Powder form for use as a nutritional
supplement for sauces or as an addition to infant weaning
foods.
Moringa leaves
can be produced intensively in a family-size small garden. The
seeds can be spaced as closely as ten centimeters apart. When the
plants reach a height of a meter, they can be cut down to a
height of 30 centimeters.
The leaves can be stripped from the stems and used to prepared sauces or dried for long-term storage as a nutritious food additive, and the stems fed to livestock. The stumps survive the harvest and will re-sprout, allowing another harvest in as little as fifty days. Using this technique, a Moringa garden can continually produce green matter for several years with very little labor required. As
the West Africa representative
for an
American non-profit development
Organization over a period of seventeen
years, I did extensive research and field trials to test
the Nutritional value of
adding Moringa leaves, in dried form, as a nutritious food
supplement for women and their children.
Results were conclusive. Moringa demonstrated tremendous value in helping moderately malnourished women and children rapidly return to good health simply by the addition of Moringa leaf powder to their daily meals. These results received considerable publicity,
including the publication of a book in English and in French with
the support of the :
'Technical Center for Agricultural and rural Cooperation(CTA)in The Netherlands; the sponsorship of an international seminar in Tanzania; the development of strategies for improving livestock nutrition in Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and The Gambia' ; and the creation of a network of researchers, marketers and development project practitioners throughout the third world.
Some of my work on
Moringa was featured on the front page of theLos Angeles
Times, on page 2 of
the International
Herald Tribune, as a chapter in an UNESCO book on
Best Practices on Indigenous Knowledge , as a
documentary aired on the Discovery Health Channel,
on the
National Public Radio, and on many other sites.
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