Sustainable diets and biodiversity

184

and sauces. These include oilseeds, fruits and veg-

etables. There is no universally accepted shortlist of

such plants. Communities have evolved their own

preferences and food habits (Okeke et al., 2008).

Improvement in the food systems have been found

to greatly reduce hunger, improve income and re-

duce malnutrition and the related disease condi-

tions in so many countries.

Child mortality is 88 deaths per 1 000 live births,

overall under-five mortality rate is 138 deaths per

1 000 live births and there is a drop in exclusive

breastfeeding (EBF) from 17 percent to 13 percent

(NDHS, 2008).

Food security is closely linked to nutrition security.

In Nigeria malnutrition contributes to unacceptably

high maternal, newborn and child mortality rates. A

woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and child-

birth is 1 in 1 3. Other data show that infant mortal-

ity rate (IMR) is 75 deaths per 1,000 live births. Over

50 percent of the underlying causes of these deaths

is undernutrition.

Figure 1.

A few questions naturally arise at this point

1. What is the nature of the Nigerian traditional
   food system?


2. What are the methods of food production in Nigeria?


3. What are the traditional foods in Nigeria?

4. What are the nutrient compositions of traditional

Nigerian foods?

5. Can the traditional food systems and the nutrient

compositions assure nutrition security?

The Nigerian traditional food system is characterized

by low return on investments, crude and ineffective

farm implements, low irrigation, expensive inputs

such as fertilizers, improved planting materials, low

yielding plants and livestock etc.

Classification of traditional foods

Traditional foods in Nigeria can be classified into the

following:

a. Roots and tubers

b. Cereals and legumes

c. Vegetables and fruits

d. Herbs and spices

e. Livestock and game

a. Roots and tubers

Examples of roots and tubers include cassava,

yams, coco yams – these are mainly produced and

consumed in the humid savannah and rainforest

agro-ecological zones. These stretch from the middle

belt to the southern part of Nigeria.

b. Cereals and legumes

Examples include maize, sorghum, millet, acha,

rice, beni seed (cereals), and cowpeas, pigeon pea,

African yam bean, bambara nuts.

Food products from cereals include boiled rice,

jollof and rice pudding, e.g. tuwo shinkafa, cornfood,

pap, eko/agidi, “maize–rice”, African bread fruit

jollof, toasted bread fruit seeds, beni seed soup,

acha, tuwo masara, boiled or roasted corn. Legume

products include boiled beans, mashed beans, rice

and beans, jollof beans, moin, akara, gbegiri soup,

bean pottage, roasted groundnut, groundnut soup.

Products from roots and tubers include the follow-

ing: pounded yam, amala (yam flour paste), garri,

boiled yam, akpu, tapioca, abacha flakes.

Neonatal 37 %

Pneumonia 19%

Diarrhea 17%

Malaria 8%

Measles 4%

HIV/AIDS 3%

Injuries 3%

Other 10%