Consumption and production of beans, maize, cassava, sweet potato and rice by families living in a rural Colombian areas: assessing the option to implement crop bio-fortification

Abstract

Objective: to determine the characteristics and consumption by Colombian families of five different nonbiofortified staple crops and to evaluate the option to use bio-fortification as a production strategy for this population. Materials and methods: population was randomly selected (60 families). In each home, persons in charge of crop production or either food preparation were asked about crop purchase, consumption, and production. Results: all people that prepared food (100%) reported to have eaten rice, 96.9% bean, 89.1 % yucca, 81,3 % corn and 9,4 % batata in the last week previously to interview. Crops that were mostly buying (bean, corn and rice) , yucca and batata were grown by themselves at home. Most farmers reported to grow mainly yucca (56.6%), followed of corn (46.6 %), bean (43.3%) and batata (16.6%), but they didn’t produce rice. Conclusion: bio-fortification could be a strategy to improve diet for this population and more studies are necessary to find out the nutritional impact and the acceptability of these products by the community.