Nutrition Knowledge and Practices, and Consumption of Vitamin A–Rich Plants by Rural Nepali Participants and Nonparticipants in a Kitchen-Garden Program

Abstract

Food-based nutrition interventions, including kitchen gardens and nutrition education, offer a potentially sustainable approach to reducing multiple nutritional deficiencies, but they have been poorly evaluated in developing countries. In a poor region of the terai (the flat, subtropical agricultural region that borders on India) in rural Nepal, we developed and evaluated the impact of a nutrition program added to the Market Access for Rural Development (MARD) Project. The primary objective of the MARD Project was to augment household income by increasing the production of high-economic-value crops. The objective of the nutrition program was to increase vitamin A and iron intakes by promoting kitchen gardens (training, technical assistance, and seed distribution) and nutrition education. One-third of the kitchen-garden program participants also attended nutrition education or agricultural training sessions that were part of the MARD Project. The program was evaluated after 36 months by a cross-sectional nutrition survey in 430 MARD households with kitchen gardens and 389 non-MARD control households. The lack of knowledge about nutrition, including the causes, prevention, and treatment of night-blindness and anemia, was remarkable. However, compared with control households, the kitchen-gardens group had significantly more nutrition knowledge (38% vs. 13% knew one of the causes of night-blindness, and 17% vs. 3% knew one of the causes of anemia), were more likely to feed special complementary foods to infants and to preserve food, and consumed more of 16 types of home-produced micronutrient-rich vegetables and fruits. Although the cross-sectional nature of the study limits our ability to attribute these differences to the program, we observed a striking lack of nutrition knowledge in these communities, and a clear opportunity to increase the intake of vitamin A through home production of vitamin A-rich plants.

Effect of nutrition education on the knowledge scores of urban households with home gardens in Morogoro, Tanzania

“…Most home garden studies have been done in Asia and Africa and among households with low socio-economic status, low education level and living in rural areas [8,[18][19][20][21][22]. Most studies have been done in rural areas, and this study intended to understand whether families with similar characteristics in urban areas could improve their nutrition knowledge via nutrition education sessions.…”

“…Most studies have been done in rural areas, and this study intended to understand whether families with similar characteristics in urban areas could improve their nutrition knowledge via nutrition education sessions. In the long run, an improvement in nutrition knowledge is expected to lead to better nutrition outcomes [8,[23][24][25].…”

“…Agriculture & Food Security *Correspondence: aaratipillai@gmail.com 1 Institute of Nutritional Sciences, Justus Liebig University, Wilhelmstrasse 16a, 35392 Giessen, Germany Full list of author information is available at the end of the article nutrition start right from pregnancy for both mother and child, poor growth and development, poor cognitive development, reduced immunity, anaemia results in a reduced capacity to work, all these factors lead to an increased risk of mortality and morbidity [8][9][10].…”

“…In a similar study in Nepal, nutrition education sessions were held monthly but the nutrition education monitors provided additional training to smaller groups of women emphasizing the same information. The reiteration of the same messages helped in retention of knowledge [8]. The review by Berti and colleagues showed that the home gardening components which did not include a nutrition education component were not as successful as those with a nutrition education component [4].…”

The Contribution of Forests and Trees to Sustainable Diets

“…It has been argued that home garden interventions can be highly effective for improving micronutrient intake [3,154]. In rural Nepal, a higher fruit and vegetable consumption was observed within households involved in a program targeting an increased production and consumption of annual and perennial home garden plant species, rich in vitamin A and iron [155]; this is expected to have positive impacts on children's nutritional status.…”