Your gut to government policies: sorghum, small-scale farmers and soil studies

The Food and Microbiota in Africa (Fama) project was presented at the Food Imbizo on Traditional and Indigenous Food Enterprise on 11 February in Tshwane at the The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), followed by conversations with farmers, activists and government representatives.

“The motivation for this project is what we call the triple burden of malnutrition, meaning the coexistence of undernutrition, which manifests in childhood micronutrient deficiencies such as anaemia, and also overweight/obesity,” said project lead Dr Arlène Alpha, a researcher with CIRAD (the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development) and CoE-FS (the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security).

“We know that this situation is strongly related to our food systems, how our food systems are organised, the type of food that the food system is providing,” she explained.

Small-scale farmers and soil

The project sites are Obanjeni in the Eastern Cape, and Amadiba in KwaZulu-Natal, examining linkages between consumption of traditional African food and gut microbiota, pilot actions with farmers and food processors, as well as policy analysis and recommendations, Dr Alpha explained.

They looked at beverages based on fermented sorghum (Motoho), bread with sorghum flour, quick cooking sorghum rice, and amaranth (Morogo).

Dr Lodama Kafua from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) workshopped with 42 farmers in Obanjeni, 48 in Amadiba, and did pilot actions with 20 of the farmers.

The ARC team found that preferred crops cultivated were bambara groundnuts (a highly nutritious, drought-tolerant grain legume), taro (a root vegetable), sweet potatoes, pumpkins, amaranth (seeds used for cereal grains, and leaves used as a stir-fried vegetable), millet (grain) and cassava (starchy root vegetable).

He said the challenges farmers faced include a lack of fencing for the fields, limited access to seeds and implements, scarcity of water as well as pests. They recommended prioritising drought-resistent local crops that are adapted to the local climate.

After soil sampling, they found that acidic soil conditions were negatively affecting crop growth. They recommended to farmers to increase soil pH by liming, organic fertiliser use, and discouraged over-application of conventional fertilisers.

Traditional to trendy?

Dr Nomusa Dlamini, Research Group Leader from CSIR, questioned “why traditional foods are underutilised, and how to turn that around”, in their part of the project, which was to test feasibility of African and indigenous food. They engaged three food processors, after a workshop and SMME selection.

Dr Dlamini outlined challenges with getting indigenous or traditional food to market such as the sustainable supply of food ingredients, product stability within fermented products, and regulatory compliance of product labelling, as well as access to accredited facilities which affects access to markets (food safety).

In terms of the accredited facilities, the requirements mean a minimum of a certificate of acceptability (CoA) from the local municipality, and there is also an advanced accreditation system such as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), which identifies food safety hazards and identifies mitigation and control.

Opportunities included the potential of innovation with indigenous and traditional foods, promoting the foods as “modern” to younger generations, emphasising the health benefits, and job creation in this industry. Regulatory compliance and access to accredited facilities is key, she said.

“There are also opportunities to access other markets, for example retail markets like Food Lovers Market,” Dr Dlamini said.

Muffin ‘killer of the day’

Dr Yisa Njowe Kieran Bong from University of Pretoria, and Rémi Piot from Chipkins Puratos, found that there is high nutrient variation between all traditional foods, but when eaten together they constitute a healthy, balanced diet.

During two workshops in Johannesburg and Cape Town with retail partners, they presented sorghum cookies, bread and muffins, asking for perspectives on whether it could be launched in their stores.

“I have to mention the muffin, because that was the killer of the day,” said Piot.

Challenges for the industry were the unfamiliar taste of sorghum products, and inconsistent sorghum supply, as there are a few farmers with high production costs due to VAT on the grain, and a wide research and development gap.

Their recommendations were to remove the VAT, improve the knowledge generation from farm-to-fork, and have a consumer awareness campaign on the environmental and health benefits of sorghum.

Perspectives on food control

Penny Campbell, Director of Food Control at the National Department of Health, the department responsible for developing legislation for food safety, food labelling and regulatory nutrition, i.e nutritional outcomes, spoke at the Food Imbizo.

She explained that while legislation exists for HACCP, not every sector needs to be regulated by it, only high-risk products such as groundnuts (which are prone to aflatoxin) and peanut butter (also made from groundnuts).

She mentioned that sorghum needs to be fortified if in bread flour, as bread flour is required to be fortified with micronutrients in South Africa by law.

Campbell worked on the integrated nutrition programme.

“I’m talking like 20 years ago, where we were finding that the soil was not suitable for agriculture. And actually we as nutritionists and dieticians in the health sector didn’t know much about that, and that it actually needed to start in the soil,” she said.

Campbell discussed labelling of products, indicating that micro-enterprises will not have to have a certificate of analysis done, unless a claim is made on the label. A CoA is from an accredited laboratory, verifying that a product meets specific quality, safety and regulatory standards.

Campbell mentioned draft labelling regulations, FOPL, which she said will allow more claims on products. However, they are trying to address the overnutrition burden, where obesity is being fuelled by products high in saturated fat, sodium and sugar – which labelling will address, she said.

“We also have [to be] consistent around children being exposed to sweetness too early on in life, because zero to three is the most optimal period for nutrition, as well as ensuring that the onslaughts of malnutrition do not occur within the zero to three years,” she said.

Campbell said promotion of exclusive breastfeeding is important to create a wonderful biome, and children up to three years old should receive no products with any added sugar.

“So we’re going to have those warning labels on products, and the minute your product carries any of those warnings, you can’t get into the claim business.” DM