Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
may fall short, the breadth of acquired knowledge often helps the individual appreci-
ate and better utilize any outside expert advice.
An important aspect of Wanja's approach to farming, nutrition, and health is that it is
robust: It provided more nutrients to children without polluting the waters, depleting the
soils, or concentrating toxicant. And, it withstood colonial rule, independence, changes in
government, and at least one coup attempt. That is the very definition of sustainability.
Example 2: Iodine irrigation
In many regions of the world iodine (I) is too deficient in the environment to support
optimum crop, livestock, and human health. Much of the center of the Asian continent
is iodine deficient. When humans settle in regions particularly poor in iodine, devel-
opmental delays, cretinism, and increased infant mortality result, as well as problems
with agricultural production, particularly livestock production. Hotien county in the
southern part of Xinjiang province in China was just such a place. Attempts at cur-
ing the population with traditional salt and dietary supplements were ineffective, and
only reached a part of the food chain. After noticing that the area was served by a
limited number of irrigation water sources, a medical team rigged a potassium iodate
(5% solution) drip into the irrigation system sufficient to deliver water bearing iodine
at 10 to 80 µg/L to the entire supporting agroecosystem for 2 to 4 weeks (Cao et al.
1994). This application of iodine to the soils providing food for 37,000 people in three
townships resulted in a 50% reduction in infant mortality and a 43% increase in sheep
production (DeLong et al. 1997). These effects persisted for at least 4 years after the
initial treatment and were extremely cost-effective (less than U.S. 5 cents per person
per year) (Ren et al. 2008).
This incredible result is a rare example of an inexpensive, simple solution to a seri-
ous nutritional problem that will not work everywhere, but it illustrates the rewards
of paying attention to the specific properties of the ecology of the area. Failure to pay
attention to the environment and the efforts of multiple well-meaning organizations
could easily have resulted in oversupplementation with iodine in a number of loca-
tions. For example, enthusiastic salt supplementation, overlaid with imported food
and supplements from a variety of sources resulted in a very high incidence of iodine-
induced hyperthyroidism in Port Sudan on the Red Sea (Izzeldin et al. 2007). Although
iodine deficiency in much of Sudan has been noted and targeted by the medical com-
munity, this coastal site was overdosed.
Example 3: Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food
The turn of the twenty-first century has brought an elegant solution to the problem of
treating childhood malnutrition in developing countries: ready-to-use therapeutic food
(RUTF). RUTFs are shelf stable at high tropical temperatures and deliver everything a
malnourished child needs to recover while at home with his or her family (Manary et
al. 2002). This home community-based therapeutic care prevents exposure to disease
in a hospital setting and frees the mother and rest of the family to continue most of
their normal activities while the child is getting better.
One class of RUTF is based on peanuts, but includes milk powder, oil, sugar, and
supplementary vitamins and minerals. In addition to having high-quality protein
compared with many plants, peanuts, unlike other nutrient-rich legumes, require very
little processing (light roasting at most) to release those nutrients for use by human
consumers and can be eaten raw. Other legumes require soaking, wet cooking, and
other expensive, time-consuming steps to become edible. And, virtually all alternative
