Basic Research Journal of Agricultural Science and Review ISSN 2315-6880 Vol. 2(9) pp. 180-185 September 2013 Available online http//www.basicresearchjournals.org Copyright ©2012 Basic Research Journal
Full Length Research Paper
Dietary food consumption patterns in Sudan Samar Abdalla1 and Ingrid-Ute Leonhäuser2 1
Agricultural Economics and Policy Research Centre (AEPRC), Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Sudan 2 Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Giessen, 35390 Giessen, Germany *Corresponding author email:
[email protected] Accepted 24 October, 2013
The food consumption patterns varies among the regions and population. The goal of this paper is to determine the dietary food consumption patterns for the rural farm househol households ds in the dry land sector of Sudan. A sample of 200 farm households was selected randomly from three localities in North Kordofan State. The primary data was collected using food frequency questionnaire during the agricultural season of 2008/09. The results s disclose that the dietary food patterns for the farm households depends largely upon cereal foods, particularly millet and sorghum products. The consumption of millet products is less than that of sorghum products due to its high market prices and produc production tion fluctuations. About 8%, 34.5%, 52.5%, and 52% of the farm households are rarely consumed meat, milk, chicken, and eggs respectively. The rural households consumed pulses, because they are available and inexpensive source of protein. Vegetables and fruit it consumption were also very low since they depend on their availability in the market and household’s income level as well. The paper recommends to launch a major nutrition programs in order to encourage the diversity of food consumption and to improve tthe he attitudes and capacity building for the rural people in the dry land sector as well as in Sudan. Keywards:: farm households, food patterns, food frequency, cereal foods, Sudan. INTRODUCTION A dietary pattern is defined as the nature, quality, quantities, and proportion of different foods and drinks in a diet. The dietary pattern commonly describes the food shared by population, communities, or families. It is also determined by ecological niches, the physical environment, tradition, religion, or choice (WCRF, 2007). Food consumption patterns are the main characteristics of the local culture. Food consumption patterns describe the local food availability in the country. However, people’s knowledge, attitudes and perceptions, traditions, itions, culture, and social organization are the significant factors influencing food consumption patterns as argued by Jenny and Egal (2002) and FAO (2005B). Sudan is one of the Sub-Saharan Saharan African (SSA) countries suffering from a severe problem of food and
nutrition insecurity among its population during the last two decades. Oil production and exports have a positive impact on the economic growth and development. However, 50% to 60% of the population is suffering from poverty and food insecurity with a high variation among the regions (WFP, ( 2006A). A). This condition is attributed to two specific reasons. The first reason is the drastically declining role of agriculture, which supports the livelihood of 80% of the population. The second reason is that the increase in in the economic growth and benefits from oil exports does not trickle down to the poor. In fact, Sudan lost its selfself sufficiency in cereal food grains due to serious drought, civil war crises, and inappropriate government policies. Consequently, rural al people have suffered from continuous deterioration in their food consumption, which creates a
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higher food deficit. Currently, Sudan lost a great part of its oil revenue after the separation of South Sudan. This will be expected to aggravate food insecurity and cause a decline in economic growth in the country. Sudan has been exemplified by a large diversity in its ecological zones and agricultural environments. This provides a wide range of crops and livestock produced under this diversify ecosystem (Cambrezy and Magboul, 1998). There is a considerable variation in the dietary diversity of food consumption patterns among different states in Sudan. This represents the significant of dissimilarity in the climatic conditions, agricultural production, food availability, food accessibility and population tastes. Additionally, the levels of wealth considerably play an important role in determining the level of dietary diversity of food consumption among Sudan's states. Sudan is also characterized by higher variation among the population, which constitutes different tribes and sub-tribes distributed in the rural and urban areas. This results in huge disparities in food consumption patterns with different dietary food practices (Cambrezy and Magboul, 1998). In general, the Sudanese food diet is essentially composed of cereals, milk, eggs, fruits, and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables provide a good sources of micronutrients, but the supply of meat and fish representing other sources of micronutrients are limited (FAO, 2005A). Conversely, cereal food is the major contributor for both energy and protein; hence its availability is the most important factor to ensure food security in the country. Cereal foods comprise about 49.8% of the total Dietary Energy Supply (DES) compared to the other food groups. The contribution of milk, eggs, and fish are about 16.9%, followed by sugar and sweets (10.1%), roots and tubers (1.0%). However, the contribution of fruits and vegetables to the DES is only about 3.5% (FAO, 2010). In this context, the food consumption pattern can be assessed using food frequency. Food frequency expresses the way and types of different food consumed. It is also described the food consumption pattern for groups of people in a specific community. In contrast, there are basic factors affecting food consumption patterns for the household members, including socioeconomic, environmental, and political factors. Therefore, the paper seeks to describe the food consumption patterns for the rural farm households in the dry land sector of Sudan. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY North Kordofan State is located in the dry land agricultural sector mainly in the Central Western part of Sudan. Its composed of nine localities: Sheikan, Bara, Um-Ruwaba, Gabrat El Sheikh, Sodari, El Nuhoud, Gebash, Wad Banda, and Abu Zabad, of which four of them were merged from the former West Kordofan State. The total number of
localities consists of approximately 33 administrative units (MFEP, 2008). About 79% of the population is depending on the agricultural activities in their livelihood system. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select the sample of the farm households from localities, administrative units and villages. Thus, due to the better standard of living conditions, a higher density of the population is concentrated mainly in the bigger localities of Um-Ruwaba, Sheikan, and Bara in contrast to the other localities. For this reason these three localities were selected for the study. Accordingly, a sample of the 17 villages was selected from 7 administrative units. The total selected sample size was about 200 farm households, this approximately represented 6% from the total number of farm households in the study area (the total number of farm households is about 3,209). The primary data was collected through the field survey using food frequency questionnaire. The food frequency survey is also used to collect data on dietary habits and food pattern (Max Rubner Institute, 2008). Food frequency describes how often the farm household had to rely on the consumption of a specific type of food during a specific period of time (i.e. a week). This gives a complete picture on the status of the household’s food consumption pattern. Food frequency represents one of the retrospective methods that used to assess how often different amounts of foods are frequently consumed. The food frequency usually measures the relative frequency of food consumed rather than the quantity of food consumed. The food frequency survey is conducted through the collection of information on how many times per week the household eats a particular type of foods. It can be selective for specific food or for all foods likely to be eaten. Nevertheless, food frequency doesn’t exhibit the actual levels of caloric and nutrient intake contained in the daily food consumption. The descriptive statistic analysis using percentages was applied to analyze the food consumption pattern of the farm households in North Kordofan State. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results of food frequency in the dry land sector of Sudan are summarized in Table 1. This table contains four important parts of foods consumed. These are cereal and tubers foods, animal foods, vegetables and fruits, and finally beverages and sweets. The majority of the farm households in the Western part of Sudan depend on cereal food consumption, mainly of millet and sorghum. Cereal foods are consumed by farm households in the form of traditional food products such as “Asida” or “Kisra.” “Asida” is a stiff porridge and represents stable food in the Western part of Sudan. It is made either from millet or sorghum (Dirar, 1993). On the other hand, “Kisra” is a pancake of thin wafers baked from fermented flour of millet or sorghum (Hashim, 2008). It appears from the Table 1 that 60% and
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70% of the farm households rarely consume millet “Asida” or millet “Kisra,” respectively. In contrast, about 55% and 22.5% of the farm households consume sorghum “Kisra” once and twice per week, respectively. The farm households who daily consume sorghum “Asida” are about 57.5%. It is observable from the table that the farm households who consume sorghum “Asida” increase from “every other day” (31.5%) to “daily” (57.5%) compared to those who consume both millet “Asida” and millet “Kisra.” About 55% and 5.5% of the farm households consume sorghum “Kisra” “one time per week” and “every day,” respectively. This points out that the daily consumption of sorghum “Kisra” is slightly lower compared to the daily consumption of sorghum “Asida.” Millet is consumed mainly in the Western parts of the country, particularly Kordofan and Darfur as reported by Cambrezy and Magboul (1998), FSU (2005) and FAO (2005B) In spite of the importance of millet products in the household food patterns, its consumption seems to be less than that of sorghum products. The higher prices of millet forced the farm households to shift their consumption from millet products to sorghum. Likewise, the fluctuation in rainfall and its instability negatively influences the production of millet. Similarly, Hashim (2008) studied food frequency for rural households in West Kordofan State. He reported a higher consumption of cereal food among the farm households. The consumption of sorghum products was increased and that of millet was decreased. He also pointed out the decline in the consumption of millet as a result of higher variations in millet production due to climatic changes and unaffordable price. The overall consumption of cereal implies the importance of energy foods for the rural farm households. From a nutritional point of view, such cereal food products are considered caloric and protein sources; however, they are insufficient for a balanced foods diet. Previous studies concerning the nutritional quality of the grain sorghum and the main products manufactured from it (e.g. “Asida” and “Kisra”) showed that it is basically deficient in lysine amino acid and therefore has a low biological value. The study also proved that the fermentation of cereals as a food processing method improves the protein quality (Eggum et al., 1983). Nonetheless, the protein availability in sorghum product might be adversely affected (Yousif, 2000; Fageer and El Tinay, 2004). Furthermore, Table 1 illustrates about 55.5% of the farm households consume bread made from wheat “once a week.” The low consumption of bread made from wheat is due to limited bakeries in rural areas. This implies a slight change in food consumption patterns from cereal food products to wheat bread. Analogous findings related to the change in food consumption patterns was reported by Hassan and Magboul (2001). They discussed that the Dar Hamids tribe who migrated from Kordofan to Khartoum State shifted their consumption from millet to bread. Magboul et al. (2002) also reported the shift to the
consumption of wheat bread among the migrants from Western and Southern Sudan to the Khartoum State. Additionally the table shows that 61% of the farm households consume tubers “once per week.” Tuber foods are mostly potatoes and sweet potatoes. Cassava, yams, and sweet potatoes are consumed in the Southern part (FAO, 2005B). Table 1 also exposes the consumption frequency of protein food, which includes: meat, milk, poultry, eggs, and pulses. About 65.5% of the farm households consume cow meat once a week. The low consumption of fresh meat is due to the weekly market and higher cost of meat for rural people. The same result was obtained by Hashim (2008). He reported that the majority of the rural households consumed meat “once per week.” He also argued that the higher cost of meat for rural people is the most important difficulty for the low consumption of fresh meat. The consumption of meat, poultry, and eggs depend mostly on the purchasing power of the people as argued by Cambrezy and Magboul (1998). Similarly, to overcome the low consumption of fresh meat, the rural households use dried meat locally known as “Sharmout” in order to prepare their traditional foods of stable sauce or cooked foods. They also use dried intestine either alone or mixed with cowpeas to prepare the sauce. “Kawal” is the local name of another alternative fresh meat produced from dry fermented leaf products, to which the farm household add the traditional food sauce in order to give it “a meaty flavor.” “Kawal” is used as a meat substitute as discussed by Dirar (1993). Divergent findings on the consumption frequency of meat was obtained by the MOH and WHO (1997). They found that 24% of the total population consumed meat every day in six states (Kassala, South Darfur, North Kordofan, Red Sea, Gezira, and River Nile). Table 1 also shows that about 52.2% and 52% of the farm households “rarely” consume poultry in the form of chicken meat and eggs, respectively. Despite the low cost of chicken meat and eggs compared to cow meat, their consumption is still quite low. This denotes a lack of knowledge on the contribution of these food items to protein intake. Accordingly, animal protein intake in household food consumption is provided only through the consumption of cow meat. In spite of the important production of livestock in the dry land sector of North Kordofan State, its contribution to direct protein consumption is very low. This implies that the livestock is mostly used as a source of income and hence contributes only indirectly to the household’s food consumption. The slaughter of livestock for daily home consumption is unusual condition. Although, during the time of festival and happy occasions the slaughter of livestock for consumption is a source of pride. Only 13% of the farm households consume fresh milk “every day,” while 17.5% consume fresh milk “once per week,” as shown in Table 1. The farm households who consume fresh milk are low regardless of how many milk-producing animals,
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Table 1. Food frequency for the rural farm households in the dry land sector of Sudan, 2008/09 Food Item
Millet “Asida” Millet “Kisra” Sorghum “Asida” Sorghum “Kisra” Bread wheat Starch tuber Cow meat Poultry chicken Poultry eggs Fresh milk Pulses Vegetables Fresh Fruits Wild fruits Sweets Beverages
% of Food frequency None Rarely Once /week 4 60 26.5 11 70 15 0 0 7 0 4 55 14.5 26 55.5 8 22 61 11 8 65.5 43.5 52.5 4 25 52 23 35 34.5 17.5 0 3.5 32 9.5 23.5 57.5 33.5 57 9.5 41.5 38.5 20 33.5 38 28.5 58 36 6
particularly cows and goats, are raised and kept. The reason is that the rural households who produce fresh milk usually sell it for cash in order to cover their other expenses. This outcome to some extent concurs with the findings from the study of Hashim (2008). He argued that the daily consumption of milk for rural households is about 58.8%, which is less than the consumption of the urban households. The rural people are milk producers who usually sell their production to the urban city areas. The disparity between the daily consumption of milk is mostly an upshot of the seasonal variation. For instance, in the end of the rainy season the production of milk increases due to the availability of pastures and better grazing conditions. Similar outcome was obtained from the study of Cambrezy and Magboul (1998). They argued that the consumption of milk varied from a maximum intake by nomads followed by the households who own and raise milk-producing animals (mostly in rural areas) to those who have to buy it. For the nomadic people milk is sometimes the main source of energy, protein, and other nutrients (Dirar, 1993 and FAO, 2005B). However, in most rural areas people seek to sell milk and other animal products for needed cash. A contrary outcome concerning the consumption of milk based on food frequency was provided from the study of the MOH and WHO (1997). They found that 73% of the total population consumed milk every day in six states (Kassala, South Darfur, North Kordofan, Red Sea, Gezira, and River Nile). Pulses (legumes) present a cheaper protein source for rural households. The important pulses in the rural area of North Kordofan State are bonavist beans, Dolichus lablab, local name, “liba affin,” and cowpeas, local name, “luba hilo” (Vigna unginculata). Table 1 shows that 32% and 50% of the farm households consume pulses “once per week” and “twice per week,” respectively. The increase in the
Total (N=200) Twice /week 9.5 4 4 22.5 4 9 15.5 0 0 0 50 9.5 0 0 0 0
Every other day 0 0 31.5 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 0
Daily 0 0 57.5 5.5 0 0 0 0 0 13 5 0 0 0 0 0
100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
consumption of pulses during the week is mostly due to its low price and availability in the local market. Table 1 presents the frequency consumption of vegetables and fruits as well. The percentage of the farm households who consume vegetables “once per week” is about 57.5%. On the other hand, about 23.5% of the farm households “rarely” consume vegetables. The consumption of vegetables is mainly related to its availability in the village market and the income level of the household. Parallel findings were obtained from the study of Al Jaloudi (2000). He found that the consumption of vegetables was low among rural people. In the rural areas, fruits and vegetables are a function of seasonal production, while in urban areas their accessibility extends to the whole year. The consumption of fruits and vegetables is based on purchasing power as discussed by Cambrezy and Magboul (1998). In contrast, rural households who “rarely” consume fresh fruits are about 57%. This result coincides with the findings from the study of Hashim (2008). He reported that the consumption of fresh fruits was even less than that of vegetables. In this context, a survey on food consumption based on the food frequency in six states (Kassala, South Darfur, North Kordofan, Red Sea, Gezira, and River Nile) showed that only 8% of the households consumed fruits daily (MOH and WHO, 1997). The low consumption of fresh fruits among the selected farm households is due to insufficient income, which is the main constraint for purchasing such type of food. Fresh fruits are considered a luxury because of their higher prices, and most of them are not produced in the state. The low consumption of vegetables and fresh fruits might influence the micronutrient intake of vitamins and minerals for the rural households. In contrast, the frequent consumption of wild fruits is also revealed in Table 1. The rural households who
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consume wild fruits “once per week” are about 20%. The wild fruits Adansonia digitata, local name “Baobab,” Zizyphus spina-christi, local name “Nabag,” and Tamarindus indica, local name “Aradieb,” represent the main sources of vitamins and minerals. The consumption of wild food is seasonal and usually gathered by children. Cambrezy and Magboul (1998) reported that wild fruits in rural areas are consumed seasonally when they are available. In urban areas accessibility to wild fruits depends on the market. Conversely, the low consumption of wild fruits is due to a decline in the forest products as an effect of environmental troubles of desertification, drought, and deforestation. The consumption of wild fruits will lead to increase in hemoglobin and serum ferrtin levels as reported by Khieri et al. (2006). Table 1 exposes the consumption frequency of sweets and beverages. It appears that about 33.5% and 58% of the farm households “never” consume sweets and beverages, respectively. The consumption of both foods seems to be very low among the rural households. The low household income is one of the major causes for low consumption of sweets and beverages. This finding coincides with the outcome from the study of Hashim (2008). He mentioned that about 79.2% and 82.5% of the rural households in Western Kordofan State rarely consumed beverages and sweets. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The food frequency highlights the crucial aspects of household consumption in the dry land sector of North Kordofan State. The food consumption patterns were dominated largely by caloric foods including the grain foods of millet and sorghum. Unfortunately, the high market prices and the fluctuation of millet production made its consumption quite low compared to sorghum. The consumption of protein food sources such as meat, milk, poultry, and eggs is very low. For cash, the farm households sell fresh milk, thus its consumption is relatively low despite of raising and keeping milk-producing animals at the home. Therefore, livestock and their products indirectly supported the consumption of protein and other foods. Pulses including beans and cowpeas are cheaper sources of protein intake. The consumption of vegetables and fruits was also very low, since its availability depends on the village market and the household’s income. The farm households are characterized by insufficient food, an imbalance in the food diet, and lack of food diversity. Consequently, the inadequate consumption of animal-source foods in the food diet and low consumption of vegetables and fruits as well are often the main sources of micronutrients deficiencies. This paper develops different policy implications that should be adopted in order to improve food consumption patterns for the rural households. The government should
launch a major nutrition program to improve the nutrition situation and awareness among the households. Encourage the production and consumption of legume foods in rural areas, since they contain higher values of protein and other nutrient as well. Further, improve the attitudes and capacity building for rural people through successful education programs that develop the capacity of the farming system. Likewise, boosting the level of household income through both farming and off-farm activities is also important for better dietary patterns. REFERENCES Al Jaloudi AE (2000). Assessment of the nutritional status and household food security in the poor urban areas in Khartoum state: case study “Marzouk”. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Khartoum, Sudan. Cambrezy C, Magboul BI (1998). Food security and nutrition situation in North Sudan. FAO and WFP Crop Assessment Mission for Sudan, Khartoum, Sudan. 13 November –8 December 1998. Dirar HA (1993). In "The Indigenous Fermented Foods of the Sudan: A Study in African Food and Nutrition". CAB International, Walingford, Ox 108, UK. Eggum BO, L Monwar, KE Bachknudsen, L Munch and J Axtell (1983). Nutritional quality of sorghum and sorghum food from Sudan. J. Cereal Sci., 1:127-137. Fageer ASM, EL Tinay AH (2004). Effect of Genotype, Malt Pre-treatment and Cooking On In Vitro Protein Digestibility and Protein Fractions of Corn. J. Food Chem., 84: 613-619. FAO (2005A). Nutrition country profile- Food and Nutrition Division Republic of the Sudan. FAO (2005B). EC/FAO Food Security Programme-Phase II ‘Food Security Information for Action’ Programme Work plan for the Republic of the Sudan-December, 2005. FAO (2010). Statistical year book-economic and social development department –Volume 2-1 available online: http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y5473m/y5473m00.HTM FSU (2005). Food security annual report. Food Security Unit, General Administration of Planning and Agric. Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, June 2006. Khartoum, Sudan. Hashim SI (2008). Poverty, food security and malnutrition in an urban and rural setting: case study the former West Kordofan State-Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis department of family science-faculty of educationuniversity of Khartoum, may, 2008. Hassan SO, Magboul BI (2001). Urbanization and food consumption patterns of Dar Hamid and Zagawa migrants to Khartoum State. Sudan Notes and Records, 5:97-108. Jenny AL, Egal F (2002). Household food security and nutrition in mountain areas- an often forgotten story, October 2002 nutrition program service, FAO-ESNP. Khieri NA, Sharfi IY, Khogali NI (2006). The anti-anaemic properties of baobab (Adansonia digitata) fruit. FRC J. Food. Sci. Technol., 1:58-66. Magboul BI, Mohamed KA, El Khalifa MY (2002). Dietary iron intake and prevalence of iron deficiency anemia among under-five children in Khartoum State. Report to EMRO/WHO, Project EM/ICP/RPS/002. Max Rubner Institute (2008). Nationale Verzehrs Studie-Die Bundesweite Berfragung zur Ernährung von Jugendlichen und Erwachsenen, Ergebnisbericht, Teil1 und 2. MFEP (2008). Marketing of Agricultural Products in North Kordofan: Current Situation and Future Prospects. Book prepared by national expert team for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in North Kordofan State. MOH, WHO (1997). Comprehensive nutrition survey. Government of Sudan Federal ministry of Health, National Nutrition Department, Sudan. World Health Organization (WHO) Geneva. WCRF (2007). Food, nutrition, physical activities and prevention of cancer: a global perspective. American institute for cancer research,
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