Consumption Pattern of Neglected and Underutilised Vegetables among Rural Households in Akinyele Local Government Area, Ibadan, Nigeria

Vegetables make up a major portion of human diet in many parts of the world and play significant role in human nutrition especially as sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and phytochemicals. In Nigeria, some indigenous vegetables have become neglected and underutilised despite their great potential in contributing to food security and nutrition. This study therefore aimed at determining the consumption pattern of neglected and underutilized vegetables among rural households in Akinyele Local Government Area (LGA), Ibadan, Nigeria. The descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 220 rural household women in Akinyele LGA. Information on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, respondent’s knowledge of and familiarity with the chosen indigenous vegetables, frequency of consumption and factors influencing consumption of these vegetables were obtained from respondents using pre-tested, semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire with a section on multi-pass 24-hour diet recall. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test at p<0.05. Mean age of respondents was 44.7±18.0 years. Only few (7.3%) of the respondents know, have seen and eat Ogunmo, while many (26.4%, 35.0%, 31.4%, 30.9% and 41.8%) know, have seen and eat Moringa leaf, Efo odu, Yanrin, Ebolo, and Worowo respectively out of all the vegetables studied. Many respondents reportedly consume Worowo (42.7%), Ebolo (53.6%), Ugwu (28.2%), Yanrin (40.5%), Efo odu (41.4%) and Igbaagba (27.7%) less than once in a month and 65.0%, 30.0%, and 59.1% has never consumed Ogunmo, Efirin, and Moringa leaf respectively in the last one month. Most (96.4%) respondents reported that the seasonal nature of the vegetables affects their consumption. There is need for consumers education on the benefits of inclusion of indigenous neglected and underutilised vegetables in their daily diets as they have been found to possess a high potential for improving nutrition and health in many areas around the world.


Introduction
Undernutrition and hunger are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa which accounts for about 9% of the global population, with high prevalence of food and nutrition insecurity especially in rural areas (Bekunda et al., 2010). About 800 million people still suffer from food and nutrition insecurity, and more than 2 billion individuals suffer from micronutrient deficiencies (hidden hunger) (FAO, 2013). The effects of micronutrient deficiencies can be devastating, leading to mental impairment, poor health, low productivity and even death. In addition to affecting human health, hidden hunger can curtail socioeconomic development, particularly in low-and middle-income countries, of which Nigeria is one (GHI, 2014).
Neglected and underutilised plant species play important role in food security, enhancing better nutrition and fighting hidden hunger. Plant species such as vegetables, which are rich sources of micronutrients, play significant role in human nutrition, especially as sources of vitamins A, B, C, E, minerals, dietary fibre and phytochemicals. A daily consumption of vegetables has been strongly associated with overall good health, reduced risk of some forms of cancer, diabetes and a number of other chronic diseases (Janick, 2011).
Traditional or indigenous vegetables are vegetables of a locality which originated from an area and may or may not be confined to that particular region (Guarino, 1997;Nnamani et al. 2009). They sometimes belong to the group of world plants often regarded as weeds, some grow in the wild and do not require formal cultivation and many of them are resilient, adaptive and can tolerate adverse climates (Nnamani et al., 2009). However, despite their ability to be raised comparatively at lower management cost even on marginal lands, they have remained underutilised due to lack of awareness and popularisation of technologies for their proper utilisation (Chweya and Eyzaguirie, 1999;Odhav, 2007;Nnamani et al. 2009).
Traditional or indigenous vegetables have been used to meet nutritional needs from time immemorial. These vegetables are often grown by local farmers to serve as a means of protein, minerals, vitamins and a means of adding variety to the diet in various African countries, particularly in the South-western region of Nigeria (Amujoyegbe et al., 2015). These vegetables have the potential to greatly reduce the scourge of malnutrition especially micronutrient malnutrition by providing essential nutrients and some of these vegetables can be used to manage diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, bronchitis diarrhea and others (Salami, 2001). Underutilised indigenous vegetables represent inexpensive, high quality nutritional resources which can make substantial contribution in meeting the nutritional needs of the population, especially the low income group and particularly in times of seasonal scarcity. They can as well serve as a means of food security and income generation; therefore, their erosion can have immediate consequences on the nutritional status and food security of the poor, and their enhanced use can bring about better nutrition and fight hidden hunger (Magbagbeola et al., 2010;Dansi et al., 2012). This study is therefore set out to determine the consumption pattern of neglected and underutilised vegetables among rural households in Akinyele Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Methodology
The descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out by purposively choosing Akinyele Local Government Area because of its rural nature and it hosts a number of these underutilised vegetables (Idowu, 2009). Two hundred and twenty (220) rural household women were randomly selected from three out of the twelve wards in the LGA because they are more available, have better access to household resources and are the primary decision-makers for food preparation (Boedecker et al., 2014). Using the Cochran's formula (n = z²pq / d²) and vegetable consumption prevalence rate of p=13.2% (Maziya-Dixon et al., 2003) taking into account 10% attrition rate.
A pre-tested, semi-structured, intervieweradministered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, respondent's knowledge of and familiarity with the chosen indigenous vegetables, frequency of consumption, factors influencing consumption of these vegetables and interactive multi-pass 24-hour diet recall of the respondents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test and level of significance set at p<0.05.

Results
The socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents (n = 220) is shown in Table 1 Well water constituted the major source of water supply of the respondents, while firewood was the major source of energy for cooking. Petty trading(50.9%) was their major occupation followed by artisan (14.5%), farming (12.7%) and business (9.1%), while 7.3% combined farming with petty trading (Table 1(b)). About half (50.5%) of respondents reportedly earned between 10,001 -30,000 naira, 40.9% earned less than 10,000 naira, and 8.6% earned above 30,000 naira/month. Few (6.8%) of the households earned less than 10,000 naira per month, 44.5% earned between 10,000 and 30,000 naira per month, 30.5% earned between 30,001 and 50,000 per month, while 18.2% earned above 50,000/month on household basis. More than one-third (35.9%) respondents spent between ten and twenty thousand naira on food monthly, 32.3% spent less than ten thousand naira, while 20.9% spent over 20,000 naira per month on food.
All the respondents reportedly consumed starchy staples the previous day before the study, 77.3% of them consumed from pulses, legumes and nuts group, 79.5% from meat or fish group, 7.7% ate eggs, 95.9% consumed other vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables, 23.2% consumed milk or milk products, 1.4% consumed organ meat, and 69.5% consumed dark green leafy vegetables (Table 7).      . the improved reduction in the level of literacy in this study compared to other studies mentioned above is believed to be due to the fact that the LGA is more of peri-urban with movement of people from the urban to this LGA as their place of residence. The findings here show that these vegetables were not consumed at all in the space of a month or had been consumed only once or twice. This is similar to the report of Termote et al., (2012). The non-frequent consumption of these vegetables portrays that there is tendency that these important vegetables which can add variety to diversity and improve micronutrient intake of consumers may go into extinction through ignorance and modern farming methods which involve use of herbicides, as many of them grow wild and are treated as weeds.

Frequency and Factors influencing Respondents' consumption of vegetables
A decline in consumption of traditional green leafy vegetables has led to a loss of indigenous knowledge of production methods, thus vegetables such as Ajefawo, Molangaran, Efo-Igo, Yanrin-Odo have completely disappeared from the consumers' table, and others like Ogunmo, Worowo, Yanrin, Ebolo, Igbaagba, Amunututu, Efo-Odu are gradually disappearing (………), thus narrowing the options of consumers to fewer and fewer crops. This is most likely the reason for the noticed high awareness and frequency of consumption of well-known commonly consumed vegetables. Usually, the most frequently given reasons for reduction in the use of traditional food species include over harvesting, local perceptions of these food as food for the poor, loss of traditional knowledge, the complexity of cooking methods and integration into market economies and globalization ( Frequency percentage

Consumption of Neglected and Underutilised Leafy Vegetables (NULVs) from 24-Hour recall
did not consume experiences in times past or that of a family member, means of obtaining the vegetables among others. Most of the respondents appreciated the vegetables and would readily consume more of them if readily available. However, an appreciable number of respondents revealed that they would not consume the neglected/underutilised ones in place of wellknown vegetables due to their unavailability, confirming the fact that unavailability of these vegetables in both formal and informal markets at rural and urban areas has added to the downward trend in their consumption.
Vegetables consumption in sub-Saharan Africa is lower than WHO/FAO recommendation of 200g/day/person. This fact is reflected in the portion sizes consumed by the respondents in this study. Vegetables are mostly consumed as an addendum to staples, and the more preferred and frequently consumed ones are eaten in larger quantities than the less preferred ones.
There was no significant relationship between age, occupation, household income and educational level of respondents and frequency of vegetable consumption, neither was there any significant association between vegetable consumption and level of dietary diversity. This finding is contrary to that of Boedecker et al., (2014) in their study of wild edible plants, and this observed difference could be due to the number of food groups from wild edible plants considered in the study other than green leafy vegetables, which could have improved the diversity of the diet.

Conclusion
Wildly grown vegetables like Ogunmo, Worowo, Yanrin, Ebolo, Amunututu, Efo-Odu including the cultivated Igbaagba, have been revealed by this study to be neglected/underutilized, and are gradually disappearing from farms. Knowledge and consumption of these vegetables have greatly declined even in rural areas where they are thought to be popular, well cherished and readily available.
Lack of knowledge about the neglected vegetables, seasonality, unavailability and erosion of biodiversity through agricultural practices have led to the disappearance of many of them, thereby losing their place on the consumers table, and thus, narrowing the options of consumers to fewer and fewer crops. This situation therefore calls for consumer education on the benefits of including wildly grown indigenous vegetables in their daily diets as good source of essential vitamins and minerals in addition to their dietary fibre, thereby improving their dietary diversity, meeting nutritional needs, improve health and prevent nutrition-related non-communicable diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases and coronary heart disease. Farmers' awareness as to the conservation and large production of these important vegetables is also recommended.