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 Moringa and its many benefits In the African context, Moringa 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 (see page 32 for names of Moringa 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
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.
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 the Los Angeles Times, on page 2 of the International Herald Tribune, as a chapter in a UNESCO book on : Best Practices on Indigenous Knowledge, as a documentary aired on the Discovery Health Channel, on the National Public Radio.
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