Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has embarked on a special strategy to sensitise the public on cultivation and uses of green gram crops in the country.
In particular a TARI-Selian Center Researcher, Ms Mary Mdachi, said they teach the women how to process green gram flour for making porridge to feed their babies.
She said the strategy, among others, seeks to educate and empower pregnant mothers and lactating women on how to effectively use the green gram to improve their prenatal and postnatal health status, as well as health of their babies.
Moreover, the initiative, which has so far been conducted in all district hospitals in Dodoma and Singida regions also targets to reduce prevalence of spina bifida and hydrocephalus diseases among the children within the country.
Elaborating, the researcher said many babies born with spina bifida get hydrocephalus (often called water on the brain) or extra fluid in and around the brain.
The extra fluid, Ms Mda- chi, said can cause the space(s) in the brain (called ventricles) to become too large and make the head to swell. The disease, among others, is caused by lack of folic acid among the newborns.
For cure, green gram is said to be one of the plants rich in protein and found in different forms like whole, split, dehusked (yellow) and ground.
They are rich in several vitamins, including folate, folic acid, zinc, vitamin B1, calories, fat, phosphorous, copper, potassium, copper, manganese and iron, to mention but a few, which helps the body to produce and maintain new cells, especially red blood cells.
“As a pilot project, we have so far visited all district hospitals in Dodoma and Singida region and trainned expectant mothers on how to mix green gram and rice flour in order to get highly nutritious flour for making porridge.
“Although, the crop is currently not used a lot, consumption of green gram is still high and has several health benefits to mothers and their newborns, and we plan to extend the campaign to all regions within the country,” she pointed out. On his part, TARI National Coordinator of Grain Legume Research, Dr Meshack Makenge said they would continue with the research with findings aimed at producing a variety of green gram improved seeds for farmers to cultivate the crop in large scales.
He said the crop is flourishing well in Simiyu, Mtwara, Tabora, Mwanza and Kilimanjaro region, adding that TARI has so far produced two major improved varieties for the crop, dubbed Nuru and Imara.
“The varieties are doing very well in the field and allow farmers to get bumper harvests within only four months. In 2019, we motivated the farmers in Mwanza region, where they successfully cultivated the crop (green gram) to the tune of fetching at least 50bn/-,” he pointed out.
He further said the crop was attracting good prices in the market by selling at 2,000/- to 2,500/- per kilogramme, and urged the farmers to support the growth of the crop to improve their live- lihoods.
