I wrote earlier today but then lost that first brief article relating to a Women In Business (WIB) press release titled "More green leaves needed in Samoan diet". The article related a workshop that was held last week and was attended by 60 participants (farmers, health professionals and teachers) where findings of studies by ACIAR Consultant Dr. Mary Taylor on the best green leafy veggies for Samoa and elsewhere in the Pacific was shared. The workshop had exposed participants to the research findings on what the best green leaves were/are from a nutritional perspective, what they look like as well as information on how to grow them. WIB and their development partners are congratulated for they have re-confirmed what is well known but not much put into practice in this country - the growing and consumption on a regular basis of nutritious green leafy veggies (see bit.ly/18YC72T). Since the 1970s, nutritionists of the Ministry of Health, USP staff and others had promoted same using also research findings from the nutrition work at SPC in Noumea and the active work of bodies like the Fiji Nutrition Center among others. Promotion was on similar green leaves the Taylor study seems to have found and the fact that the most nutritional green leaves are usually local traditional crops/plants such as laupele, young taro leaves, young shoots of crops such as pumpkins, sweet potato, manioka and others. In addition are introduced crop plants such as kang kong (which I had named "Kapisi sosolo"), drumstick or moringa and a few others. I shall dig up references relating to these while the study by Dr. Taylor I shall try to get a link to. Also check with WIB for their "Fact Sheets". The big challenge will be in getting our people to not just get planting materials and having information and knowledge but to grow and use such greens. Here, schools and teachers have a very important role to play. The inclusion of teachers in the WIB training was a step in the right direction but they also need the support and possibly even the clearances from principals and the Ministry of Education to ensure they put into practice not just this year but on a continuing basis such with a goal to including such into the school curriculum on an equal footing with other subjects. Without such, these noble efforts are unsustainable.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:35:38 +0000
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