Women's Nutribusiness cooperatives in Kenya: an integrated strategy for sustaining rural livelihoods.

With funding provided by the Center for Higher Education of the United States Agency for International Development, The Pennsylvania State University and Tuskegee University collaborated with the University of Nairobi in establishing women's NutriBusiness Cooperatives in the Rift Valley and Central Provinces of Kenya. Between 1992 and 1999, the cooperatives were established, facilities and equipment were supplied and extensive participatory training was provided by university-affiliated investigators and project staff. This initiative enabled approximately 2500 rural Kenyan women farmers to add value to their crops by processing and locally marketing nutritious, convenient, culturally-appropriate weaning food mixes. Implementation of the NutriBusiness model is described and challenges of cultural engagement are highlighted.

A nutribusiness strategy for processing and marketing animal-source foods for children.

Nutritional benefits of animal source foods in the diets of children in developing countries indicate a need to increase the availability of such foods to young children. A nutribusiness strategy based on a dried meat and starch product could be used to increase children's access to such foods. The "Chiparoo" was developed at The Pennsylvania State University with this objective in mind. Plant-based and meat ingredients of the Chiparoo are chosen based on regional availability and cultural acceptability. Chiparoo processing procedures, including solar drying, are designed to ensure product safety and to provide product properties that allow them to be eaten as a snack or crumbled into a weaning porridge. Continued work is needed to develop formulation and processing variations that accommodate the needs of cultures around the world.

Assessing food system attitudes among youth: development and evaluation of attitude measures.

OBJECTIVE: To design and pilot a questionnaire for assessing youth attitudes about the food system. DESIGN: Nutrition educators provided important topics for food system education through a survey using the Delphi method. The resulting questionnaire of attitude scales was piloted with high school students. SETTING: The Delphi survey of nutrition educators was conducted through the mail and electronically. A paper and pencil questionnaire was administered to high school students in Family and Consumer Science classes. PARTICIPANTS: Delphi participants were members of the Society for Nutrition Education's Division of Sustainable Food Systems. A convenience sample of high school students completed the pilot questionnaire. VARIABLES MEASURED: Scales measured attitudes about farmland protection, participation in the local food system, hunger in the United States, organic agriculture, and environmental issues related to food. ANALYSIS: Factor analysis was used to identify constructs. The internal consistency of each resulting scale was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Reliability of attitude scales ranged from .59 to .73. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Attitude scales were created for the purpose of assessing youth thoughts and beliefs about the local or regional food system. Such assessments can serve as a starting point for food system educators interested in developing effective curricula on food system topics.

Applying a nutribusiness approach to increase animal source food consumption in local communities.

Animal source foods (ASF) in the diets of schoolchildren are beneficial for supporting optimal physical and cognitive development. Nevertheless, behavioral change and economic development are needed to increase and sustain adequate meat product consumption by schoolchildren in developing countries. A NutriBusiness enterprise may be one way for local communities to promote economic development while increasing the availability of meat for children. This work evaluates the feasibility of a NutriBusiness enterprise involving the production of rabbits and the manufacture of solar dried snack food. Some rabbits would be kept for home use, whereas others would be used in the manufacture of a rabbit-sweet potato dried snack food that could be fed to children or sold for income. The NutriBusiness enterprise would be composed of participants from the community contributing to a cooperative effort for setting up a manufacturing facility and organizing production, manufacturing and marketing functions. A unit operation for rabbit-sweet potato Chiparoos, based on full-capacity operation of a single solar drier would involve up to 110 shareholder families, each producing 240 rabbits/y with 120 used at home and 120 sold for Chiparoos manufacture. Participation in the enterprise would increase the availability to children of iron, zinc and vitamin B-12, and other nutrients, and provide approximately 350 dollars/y additional income for the family.