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Diversifying food systems – learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation of 9 rural and urban poor in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Subproject 4: Postharvest, Subproject 5: Human health (HORTINLEA)
Project
Project code: MRI-OG-08-KA-720-1060Hortinlea
Contract period: 01.07.2013
- 30.06.2018
Purpose of research: Applied research
The overall goal of HORTINLEA (Horticultural Innovation and Learning for Improved Nutrition and Livelihood in East Africa) is to significantly improve the livelihood and nutritional situation in particular of the rural and urban poor of the target area. In the technical disciplines, the necessary knowledge should be generated for an improvement of the production systems. These sub-projects refer not to a specific value chain, but work on cross sectional subjects. African indigenous leafy vegetables (ALV) play a significant role in food security of smallholder farmers in rural and urban/peri-urban areas. Currently, the magnitude of pre- and postharvest losses of ALVs in Kenya can reach up to 50%. Losses are attributed to inadequate conditions during production and to rapid decay of products during transport, storage and marketing. Inadequate postharvest handling and facilities for storage and transport, inappropriate processing methods for product preservation, insufficient hygiene conditions in the markets and poor infrastructure aggravate these problems, causing massive losses along “the field to consumer” chain. Alternative technologies such as on-farm evaporative coolers, modified atmosphere packaging and postharvest treatments need to be explored for adoption. The commonly used, local preservation methods include blanching, solar-drying and fermentation. However, despite their wide adoption, some of these result in significant loss of nutritional product quality and in microbiological contamination. The research and/or technical goals of the intervention (SP4/5) will be the development of recommendations for food safety oriented harvest techniques, postharvest handling procedures and processing technologies for ALVs for utilization by all stakeholders of the food supply chain (smallholders, trader, consumer).
During the project duration up to December 2016 the main focus of the investigations was laid on the effect of fermentation as a preservation method on quality and microbial safety of African indigenous vegetables like cowpea, nightshade, and kale. Therefore, vegetable plants were cultivated for four weeks in a climatic chamber (20-25°C, 40-70% RH) followed by three weeks in the greenhouse at ambient conditions. After seven weeks leaves were harvested and fermented under two different conditions. Leaves were laid in a salt solution (3% salt) with 3% sugar. One fermentation approach was carried out as spontaneous fermentation and a second one was performed with two lactic acid strains as starter cultures to improve fermentation. The trials showed that the addition of starter cultures led to an obvious better fermentation. The better fermentation was determined by the fast descend of the pH-value (below 4) in 24 hours. In an additional fermentation approach with starter cultures pathogenic strains of Listeria and Salmonella were added to evaluate if the microbial safety could be improved by fermentation. After three days of fermentation no Listeria could be detected and after six days no Salmonella could be found. Therefore, fermentation can improve microbial safety of leafy vegetables. To evaluate the quality of fermented African leafy vegetables basic chemical analyses were performed where vitamins B1, B2, C were determined. The results showed a clear loss in water soluble vitamins (B1, B2, C) but in contras vitamin E was mostly preserved.
Section overview
Subjects
- Vegetable Gardening
- Agricultural Sociology
- Food Processing
- Agroeconomics
Framework programme
Funding programme
Excutive institution
MRI - Department of Safety and Quality of Fruit and Vegetables (MRI-OG)
Funding institution
Project management agencies
Associated projects: HORTINLEA
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner K
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner J
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner H
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner G
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner F
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner E
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner D
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner C
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Partner B
- GlobE: HORTINLEA - Diversifying food systems: Learning and innovation in horticultural value chains to improve the livelihood situation in rural and urban regions in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania) - Partner A
