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| Fields in Blantyre, Malawi Photo Credit: Dr Charlotte Hall |
Growing fruit trees on farms in rural Malawi could directly improve people’s diets, according to new study by a University of Stirling researcher.
Around 20% of the population of the African country are undernourished and far more suffer from hidden hunger, meaning they consume enough calories but lack essential micronutrients, such as iron, zinc and vitamin A.
Around 80% of Malawians are involved in smallholder agriculture and a large proportion of the food they consume comes from their own production.
However, conventional agri-food policies continue to promote the increased production of staple cereal crops, and very rarely promote the benefits of fruit trees.
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| Dr Charlotte Hall Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Stirling |
Dr Charlotte Hall, of the University of Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, looked at how having on-farm trees can directly benefit people’s diets. She used data from the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) for Malawi to examine this relationship.
Dr Hall, who is a Lecturer in Environmental Geography, said: “One of the major dietary problems in Malawi is insufficient intake of fruits and vegetables as diets are heavily based around maize.
“Fruits and vegetables tend to be rich in micronutrients that are often deficient in Malawian diets but are also important for other aspects of health such as reducing the risk of chronic diseases.
“We found that households who have trees on their farm have significantly higher fruit and vegetable consumption than households who do not own trees. Specifically, households who have a diverse range of tree species have significantly improved fruit consumption.
“These results have implications for strategies to improve diets in Malawi as conventional agri-food policies continue to promote the increased production of staple cereal crops, and very rarely attend to the benefits of trees.”
Dr Hall carried out the research in collaboration with co-authors at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Manchester, as well as the Department of Forestry at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi.
Dr Hall added: “We argue that trees should be better recognized in agri-food policies given that the integration of trees into agricultural landscapes could contribute to multiple goals, such as climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and improving food security.”
The paper Trees on farms improves dietary quality in rural Malawi hypothesizes that having trees on farms can improve fruit and vegetable consumption via three key pathways - people consuming fruits directly from their trees; people selling the tree products at markets and using the income to purchase other fruits and vegetables; and on-farm trees improving people’s agricultural production, leading to greater fruit and vegetable consumption.
Funding: The research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.
Published in journal: Conservation Letters
Title: Trees on farms improve dietary quality in rural Malawi
Authors: Charlotte Mackenzie Hall, Bowy Den Braber, Emilie Vansant, Johan A. Oldekop, Upasak Das, David Fielding, Judith F. M. Kamoto, and Laura Vang Rasmussen
Source/Credit: University of Stirling
Reference Number: con013125_01
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