Making choices and factors influencing choices
Before introducing food processing into a village community, it is necessary to decide the overall purpose of the new initiative. Is the primary aim to improve the health and nutritional status of villagers, or is it to generate income, or both? This decision is important because it determines the types of support and resources that will be needed to make the introduction successful.
Processing for improved nutrition or food security
If the aim is to improve health and nutrition, an understanding of the current dietary problems is needed, together with any likely future changes to food consumption. A nutritional survey is conducted to identify deficiencies, and this is then used to decide which foods should be preserved to meet those deficiencies, and how this can be done at the lowest cost. Using this information, the community should decide what is the best way to establish the processing facilities, how they should be owned and managed, and who will do the work (Case study 5).
CASE STUDY 5 Community weaning food production In Peru, a number of Andian communities faced high incidences of malnutrition among young children. There was insufficient family income to afford commercial weaning foods and project staff from the Lima office of the Intermediate Technology Development Group decided to assist villagers to produce their own products. The weaning foods were based on locally available raw materials and the project staff advised the communities on the correct proportions of crops to mix together to reach a correct nutritional balance of carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals. Importantly, the communities decided that the mothers of all the young children in the village were the best people to produce the weaning food because they had an obvious interest in its success. They meet together for one day every two weeks and make sufficient weaning foods to meet their needs for this period. They were trained to mix the ingredients in a hygienic way so that they remained safe from food poisoning. The weaning foods were stored in the mothers' homes and used as needed. The main benefits of this approach were the low cost of production using local ingredients, the use of technologies that were appropriate for the communities, and control of production by the mothers themselves. The women viewed the fortnightly production sessions as social occasions, and there was a constant change of members as new mothers joined the group, stayed until their children reached five years old, and then left until their next child was born. The groups strengthened the confidence of their members and allowed exchange of information and informal training in a wide variety of topics. (Source: Axtell and Intermediate Technology, 2001, personal communication Peru) |
If the intention is to increase the levels of food security in a village, the crops that are chosen for processing must be familiar to the community and the processed products should already form part of people's normal diet. The processing methods should cost as little as possible and be effective in preserving the foods for the required period. The choices that need to be considered and the factors that influence these choices are summarized in Table 4.