Wild Foods from Farm and Forest in the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Powell, Bronwen; Maundu, Patrick; Kuhnlein, Harriet V.; Johns, Timothy

doi:10.1080/03670244.2013.768122

Cited by 95 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The findings in the present study corroborate the previous findings in DR Congo (12) , Benin (53) , Tanzania (57) , Ethiopia (69) and Cameroon (70) that indicated a wide gap between the number of traditionally known and the number of commonly consumed forest foods. The focus group respondents in the present study revealed a list of forty-seven forest plant foods, of which only seventeen were observed to be consumed during the 7 d recall period in the study.…”

Section: Knowledge Of Forest Foodssupporting

confidence: 92%

Contribution of forest foods to dietary intake and their association with household food insecurity: a cross-sectional study in women from rural Cameroon

Fungo

Muyonga

Kabahenda

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To determine the contribution of forest foods to dietary intake and estimate their association with household food insecurity. Design: Cross-sectional survey conducted among 279 households. Using a 7 d recall questionnaire, information on household food consumption was collected from women and used to determine the household dietary diversity score, food variety score and forest food consumption score (FFCS). Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) score was determined and Spearman rank correlation was used to establish the relationship between consumption of forest foods and HFIAS score. Women's dietary intake was estimated from two 24 h recalls. The contribution of forest foods to women's nutrient intakes was calculated and women's nutrient intakes were compared with estimated average nutrient requirements. Setting: Rural forest-dependent households in twelve villages in eastern and southern Cameroon. Subjects: Household heads and their non-pregnant, non-lactating spouses. Results: Forty-seven unique forest foods were identified; of these, seventeen were consumed by 98 % of respondents over the course of one week and by 17 % of women during the two 24 h recall periods. Although forest foods contributed approximately half of women's total daily energy intake, considerably greater contributions were made to vitamin A (93 %), Na (100 %), Fe (85 %), Zn (88 %) and Ca (89 %) intakes. Despite a highly biodiverse pool of foods, most households (83 %) suffered from high food insecurity based on the HFIAS. A significant inverse correlation was observed between the HFIAS score and the FFCS (r 2 = −0·169, P = 0·0006), demonstrating that forest foods play an important role in ensuring food security in these forest-dependent communities. Conclusions: Forest foods are widely consumed by forest-dependent communities. Given their rich nutrient content, they have potential to contribute to food and nutrition security.

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Section: Knowledge Of Forest Foodssupporting

confidence: 92%

Contribution of forest foods to dietary intake and their association with household food insecurity: a cross-sectional study in women from rural Cameroon

Fungo

Muyonga

Kabahenda

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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“…A mushroom locally known as “Kusaghizi” has a long tradition of being used as food by local communities in the Usambara mountains as first reported by Powell et al (2013). In a study by Juma et al (2016), which assessed antioxidant activities of saprobic mushrooms from Tanzania, “Kusaghizi” was included, but neither the study by Powell et al nor that of Juma et al reported a scientific name for “Kusaghizi”.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic position and taxonomy of Kusaghiporia usambarensis gen. et sp. nov. (Polyporales)

2018

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A large polyporoid mushroom from the West Usambara Mountains in North-eastern Tanzania produces dark brown, up to 60-cm large fruiting bodies that at maturity may weigh more than 10 kg. It has a high rate of mycelial growth and regeneration and was found growing on both dry and green leaves of shrubs; attached to the base of living trees, and it was also observed to degrade dead snakes and insects accidentally coming into contact with it. Phylogenetic analyses based on individual and concatenated data sets of nrLSU, nrSSU and the RPB2 and TEF1 genes showed it, together with Laetiporus, Phaeolus, Pycnoporellus and Wolfiporia, to form a monophyletic group in Polyporales. Based on morphological features and molecular data, it is described as Kusaghiporia usambarensis.

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“…Only a handful of studies have been conducted that directly quantify the consumption of forest foods Rowland et al 2015). These studies originate from case studies of single communities in different locations, ecological, social and cultural contexts, use different methodologies and have mixed results (Blaney et al 2009;Golden et al 2011;Termote et al 2012;Powell et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest foods and healthy diets: quantifying the contributions

Rowland

Ickowitz²,

Powell

et al. 2016

Envir. Conserv.

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SUMMARYForested landscapes provide a source of micronutrient rich food for millions of people around the world. A growing evidence base suggests these foods may be of great importance to the dietary quality of people living in close proximity to forests -especially in communities with poor access to markets. Despite widespread evidence of the consumption of forest foods around the world, to date, few studies have attempted to quantify the nutritional contributions these foods make. In this study we tested the hypothesis that the consumption of forest foods can make important contributions to dietary quality. We investigated the dietary contributions of wild forest foods in smallholder dominated forested landscapes from 37 sites in 24 tropical countries, using data from the Poverty and Environment Network (PEN). We compared quantities of forest foods consumed by households with dietary recommendations and national average consumption patterns. In addition, we compared the relative importance of forests and smallholder agriculture in supplying fruits, vegetables, meat and fish for household consumption. More than half of the households in our sample collected forest foods for their own consumption, though consumption patterns were skewed towards low-quantity users. For high-quantity consuming households, however, forest foods made a substantial contributions to their diets. The top quartile of forest food users in each site obtained 14.8% of the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, and 106% of the reference quantity of meat and fish from forests. In 13 sites, the proportion of meat and fish coming from forests was greater than from domestic livestock and aquaculture, while in 11 sites, households procured a greater proportion of fruits and vegetables from forests than from agriculture. Given high levels of heterogeneity in forest food consumption, we identify four forest food use site typologies to * Correspondence: Amy Ickowitz e-mail: A.Ickowitz@cgiar.org characterize the different use patterns: 'forest food dependent', 'limited forest food use', 'forest food supplementation' and 'specialist forest food consumer' sites. Our results suggest that while forest foods do not universally contribute significantly to diets, in some sites where large quantities of forest foods are consumed, their contribution towards dietary adequacy is substantial.

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Wild Foods from Farm and Forest in the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Abstract: This study explored the role of wild foods in the diets of children and mothers in the East

Cited by 95 publications

References 42 publications

Contribution of forest foods to dietary intake and their association with household food insecurity: a cross-sectional study in women from rural Cameroon

Contribution of forest foods to dietary intake and their association with household food insecurity: a cross-sectional study in women from rural Cameroon

Phylogenetic position and taxonomy of Kusaghiporia usambarensis gen. et sp. nov. (Polyporales)

Forest foods and healthy diets: quantifying the contributions

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