3.4.1 The importance of maize as the main source of food in Katumba ward
The farm households in Katumba ward regard maize as more important than other food crops.
This statement is partly based on the outcome of the comparison of the size of land that each farm household that participated in this study allocated for growing maize than that allocated for other crops. The number of hectares of land that each farm household allocated for other crops ranged from 0 - 1; while maize was allocated up to about two hectares of land, which implies that maize was the most preferred food crop in Katumba ward. Although the farm households in Katumba ward allocated larger portions of land to growing maize than to other food crops, in general, the average size of land on which maize was grown was less than a hectare. Naturally this would have a negative effect on the length of time during which maize is available to the consumers, given that the yield is generally low in the smallholder sector.
The importance of maize as a source of food in Katumba ward was portrayed by the frequency at which the farm households consumed maize meals. The total number of meals that the farm households consumed per day was on average three meals, while the average number of maize meals consumed per day was approximately two, and the average number of days per week during which the farm households consumed maize meals was six. These numeric figures imply that farm households consumed maize meals at least once per day in an average of six days per week, and that two out of an average of three meals consumed per day were made from maize.
This study agrees with the Tanzanian government’s reports concerning the importance of maize as the main source of food in the country (Amani, 2004).
However, elsewhere, Tanzanian government’s record shows higher production of green bananas/plantains than maize per annum in Rungwe district (Administrator, 2010). Thus, it is possible that bananas/plantains are more used for non-consumption purposes such as marketing than for consumption purposes in Rungwe district. The Tanzanian government may not be fully aware of the extent to which maize has gained importance as a source of food in Rungwe district
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especially in the light of the fact that currently farm households allocate more land to growing it than other sources of carbohydrates such as green bananas/plantains. The former could lead to the government’s failure to fully address issues of the farm households’ vulnerability in Rungwe district.
Furthermore, an average of five to six people revealed in the findings for a farm household in Katumba ward is slightly higher than the average of four people per household indicated by Tanzanian government reports (Mbogoro, 2003), which implies that there are more maize consumers in Katumba ward than what the Tanzanian government reports suggest. The absence of female children aged above 18 years in Katumba ward can be explained in that in Tanzania, girls can get married by law at the age of 15 years (United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), 2006), thus, 20 - 40 % of the teen aged girls cease to be regarded as children in the households after getting married.
3.4.2 The nutritional importance of maize in Katumba ward
Roughly 66.8 % - 69.5 % of the total energy required per household in Katumba ward can be obtained from maize alone, which implies that maize contributes significantly to the food security of the farm households in this ward. It seems that farm households could obtain from maize slightly higher amounts of energy than the 60 % dietary energy reported in records by Green (1999) and Katinila et al., (1998) regarding the amount of energy that consumers obtained from maize in Tanzania. An average farm household in Katumba ward may also obtain about 83 % to 90 % of the daily required protein from maize meal alone, which is higher than the estimated 50
% (Katinila et al., 1998) daily required protein recorded as obtained from maize in Tanzania.
In fact a lot more protein and other nutrients such as fats minerals and vitamins can be obtained from maize consumption when whole grains of maize are consumed without being subjected to the milling process. During milling some of the nutrients are lost when bran is removed (Hoseney, 2000; Klopfenstein, 2000). Consequently, this reduces the nutritional value of the end product (Hoseney, 2000; Klopfenstein, 2000), but since in Katumba ward the farm households started consuming maize while it was still green in the fields, it was possible for the farm households to obtain a lot more protein and other nutrients from maize than when they utilized
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milled maize. However, the protein found in maize is of poor quality due to its deficiency in two essential amino acids, namely, lysine and tryptophan (Escobedo, 2010). Its mineral and vitamin content is also deficient (Welch, 2002), thus, the consumption of meals made from whole grains of maize does not guarantee adequate nutrition. Nevertheless, technologies for breeding for better nutrition makes it possible to improve the nutrient content of maize (Welch, 2002). Thus, consumption of whole grains of enriched maize would boost the farm households’ food security.
This renders maize very important where the farm households’ food security is concerned. The fact that the farm households in Katumba ward obtained a higher percentage of the daily required protein from maize which had low quality protein raises questions concerning the nutritional status of the people in the ward. The farm household could improve their nutrition through using Quality Protein Maize (QPM), which was developed by CIMMYT in order to advance the protein quality in maize (Vasal, 2002). The consumption of QPM has been proven to enhance the nutrition and health of consumers (Nuss and Tanumihardjo, 2011).
3.4.3 The importance of maize with respect to the nutrients that the farm households may access indirectly through maize consumption
In Katumba ward, maize also promotes access to nutrients that are available in other types of foods that are eaten concurrently with maize. This statement is based on the findings in Figure 2.4, which reveal that all of the farm households in Katumba ward often consumed maize meals concurrently with other types of food, especially beans, fresh leafy green vegetables, dry fish and meat. Meat, fish, eggs, beans and milk are good sources of protein (FAO, 1992; 1999; Ofuya and Akhide, 2005). However, the foods that are eaten together with maize meals are normally consumed in small quantities; whereas maize provides the bulk in the meals. The fact that the farm households could obtain up to 90 % of the daily required protein from maize alone implies that the farm households utilized more of the low quality protein than the high quality protein from the other foods such as meat. Although the consumption of maize meals concurrently with the other types of foods indicated above created possibilities for the farm households to access protein and other nutrients found in the foods, their diets could have been even better if maize was enriched with the deficient nutrients.
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Green leafy vegetables are also good sources of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and roughage (Singh et al., 2001; Flyman and Afolayan, 2006; Olaiya and Adebisi, 2010). The farm households could access the above nutrients through eating maize meals concurrently with the other types of foods mentioned above. Vitamins (Webb, 1995) and minerals (Smolin and Grosvenor, 2010) are required in small quantities in the body per day, thus, green leafy vegetables could promote the farm households’ nutrition security regardless of the fact that they are taken in smaller quantities than maize meals.
More nutrients such as fats and vitamins are obtained from ingredients that are added to foods when foods eaten with maize meals are cooked. In general, nutrients that are obtained from foods eaten together with maize meal add value to the diets and complement the nutrient deficiencies in maize, which improves the food security of the consumers. In this way maize has the capacity to make an indirect positive influence on nutrition and food security of the farm households. The current worldwide efforts to improve the level of vitamin A in maize (Ortiz-Monestario et al., 2007) can be beneficial to farm households in Katumba ward and thus, needs to be promoted in this ward among other places.
3.4.4 The importance of maize based on the farm households’ perceptions
The perception that ‘maize meals are more filling than the other types of food’ had the highest scores implies that the farm households possibly prefer maize meals. Feeling full is a sensation opposed to the painful feeling caused by lack of food, which the Agriculture and Natural Resources Team of the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and Wiggins (2004) defines as hunger. While food security is concerned with eliminating hunger, the elimination of hunger goes beyond getting rid of the uncomfortable sensation indicated above to include ensuring that the consumers obtain adequate nutrition from the food being consumed for a healthy life (WFP, 2009).
Since maize meals are preferred in Katumba ward, maize influences the type of nutrition that the farm households access, thus, it is not enough for maize to be merely more filling than the other types of food. It is imperative that farm households be able to obtain maximum amounts of nutrients from maize. Thus, it is imperative that the maize be of high quality, and that farming
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and storage technologies that enhance its yield, nutritional value and resistance to infestations and infections be available to the farm households.
3.4.5 The implication of gender, formal education and age of heads of farm households on maize consumption
Relationships between years of formal education, age and gender of heads of households, and the frequency at which maize meals were consumed in Katumba ward were investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation and no significant relationships were found. This implies that the farm households’ preference of maize meals above other types of food was not influenced by the level of formal education, age or gender of farm household heads.