Plant-based nutritious meals
Caribbean Life, OCTOBER 18-24, 2019 11
Global challenges
tralia continues to offer.
My ‘career’ included, for
example; conducting livestock
research in what
was remote northern
Thailand; development
consulting for the World
Bank, AsDB, UN and the
aid organisations of three
countries but mostly Australia;
managing development
consulting companies;
being Dean of the
nation’s largest faculty of
agriculture; some private
sector ventures; directorship
of a major foreign
investment in agriculture;
reviewing two
international research
centres, and chairing the
ILRI board. The trajectory
is non-linear and is far
from conventional, but
what skills were honed
by one field proved useful
for others. If I have
any advice for some of
the NextGen, it is — if
you are comfortable with
change, take opportunities
as they arise rather
than follow what were the
career paths of the Old-
Gen.
The common theme
of international agricultural
research and development
across those decades
taught me that my
skills in organising were
perhaps more in demand
than those in specific
research and development.
Thus, I came to see
that creating the best environment
for researchers
and development specialists
was as important as
the research and development
itself. Peer management
of skilled specialists
is a specialist task in itself
and is easily undervalued
if healthy food for marginalised
people is treated
in the same manner as a
non-essential commodity
in a generic approach to
management. This means
that the new generation
of agricultural researchers
and developers will
OP-EDS
include both specialists
and specialist-managers.
That is my experience;
it has not produced a new
plant variety or rid the
world of a zoonotic disease
but, as a small cog in that
complex machine, it has
supported such things.
I see its outputs in the
results of significant scientists
in the international
agricultural research
centres, universities and
commerce. Operating in a
competitive environment
funded by governments
and philanthropists,
international researchers
may find that objectives
do not always align
with those of funders or
with those the ultimate
clients of research, the
food-marginalised of the
world. Balancing these
factors is part of the specialists’
manager.
Across the whole sector,
some of the outstanding
successes of diverse
scientists include:
also earn income by selling
the excess vegetables.
In Nigeria, for example,
women farmers growing
these indigenous highly
nutritious indigenous
African vegetable plant
varieties are reaping
several benefits including
earning income and
boosting food security.
Similar success stories
are documented in several
African countries such
as Kenya and Ethiopia.
Second, all nations
should ban artificial
trans-fat production and
use. Globally, consumption
of trans fat accounts
for more than 500,0000
deaths due to heart disease
every year, according
to the World Health
Organization.
The harmful effects
of trans fat is by raising
bad cholesterol and lower
good cholesterol levels.
Therefore, increasing risk
of heart disease, stroke
and insulin-dependent
diabetes. Already there
are lessons from countries
that have policies on
artificial trans fats.
For instance, South
Africa limits industrially
produced trans-fat in
foods, fats and oils; and
U.S. and Canada bans
the source of industrially
produced trans-fat
and require trans-fat to
be labeled on packaged
food.
Third, reduce daily
consumption of salt to
less than one teaspoonful
a day because the sodium
contained in salt increases
blood pressure.
Hypertension in turn,
is implicated in 7.5 million
deaths every year.
According to the U.S.
Centres for Disease control,
more than 70% of
the sodium Americans
consume comes from
processed and restaurant
foods. There are several
ways to reduce salt consumption
such as public
education, front-of-package
labelling, promotion
of salt substitutes,
industry reformulation
of packaged foods, and
intervention for restaurants.
The United Kingdom
salt reduction program
led to lower slat content
in processed foods,
resulting in a 15% reduction
in population salt
intake.
Lastly, countries must
come up with comprehensive
policy approaches
or revise already existing
national nutrition
policies to address this
growing diet-related
non communicable diseases.
Once they’re set,
governments must place
high priority on them
to ensure that nutrition
policies are implemented
and followed and
that citizens are aware
of them.
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