WOMEN LITERACY PROGRAMMES AND DEVELOPMENT
Literacy is not just being able to read words and connect them to objects and ideas. It includes the application of reading and writing to everyday life: without it one is lost.
It is the resource poor women who contribute their labor to producing food and cash crops and if agriculture is to progress, and productivity to increase, it is vital to reach them in a way that they can use some of the modern and better information to help them produce better and perhaps with less burdens on their own budgets!.
If women are not literate they cannot acquire even basic information on different plants, they have no material to refer to nor to inform them of latest research findings and development issues.
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HOW TO PREPARE GREEN VEGETABLES FOR THE DRY SEASON
In many tropical climates, there is a wet season followed by a long, hot, dry season.
In the wet season wild and cultivated vegetable crops grow well. People need the vitamins and minerals that come from these green vegetables to stay healthy. When the dry season comes, many crops and grasses dry up. Only farmers who irrigate their land can continue to grow crops. But not many dry land farmers have irrigation facilities, so people go without fresh vegetables.
But it is possible to preserve your vegetables for the dry season. It's cheap and easy to do. To start, pick your vegetables from the field. Wash them in cold water. Boil water in a pot and add salt. Use a little more salt than you normally would to cook the vegetables. Now out the vegetables in the boiling water for two to five minutes. Then remove the vegetables from the water and cut them into small pieces.
Dry the vegetables in the sun for for two to three days. Then pack them in a container that will not allow dust or insects to enter.
The best thing to use if you can get it is a polythene bag, which you can seal completely. Store the dried vegetable in a cool, dry place.
When the dry season comes, boil or steam your stored vegetables in a small amount of water. The vegetables will get larger when boiled, so you will only need a handful to feed a family of six to eight people
--Top-- MIXED FARMING OFFERS ADVANTAGES
Mixed farming offers a more varied diet and mixed diets that incorporate foods of animal and vegetable origin are more nutritious than diets base purely on crop products.
There are many examples of vegetarian diets, but most include eggs and fish, if not meat and milk, and it is difficult to formulate a diet totally free of animal products that is nutritionally adequate for the very young and the elderly.
Mixed farming also provides greater variety indicts, which most people appreciate, and it is clear that as living standards improve there is an invariable swig, towards a demand for greater variety in diet, including a greater demand for livestock products.
Economic risk is reduced by mixed farming systems, food security is enhanced, and such systems also offer farmers the opportunity to optimize the use of all that they produce by recycling materials that would otherwise be wasted in all-crop systems: straw, Stover's and haulm are a no cost feed for ruminants, while harvesting, winnowing such broken grains and chaff can be fed to ruminants or left to be scavenged by poultry.
Finally, farmers have long appreciated the non-food benefits of livestock, which include their fiber (wool and mohair) and skins for leather. Large animals (cattle, buffalo camels horse and donkeys) are also a source of power and energy in many parts of the world, not only cultivating land but providing transport, powering grinding mills for grain and sugar cane and pumps for irrigation. Their dung has been valued as fertilizer for arable crops or as fuel, and more recently for the production of biogas.
--Top-- IMPROVED DRYING TECHNOLOGIES
When considering improved drying technologies it should be always remembered that, while at first sight they may provide a technical improvement, a whole range of other factors will affect their acceptance by rural women producers, who may place emphasis on aspects such as the additional time involved: extra costs incurred; not being able to carry out drying at or near their homes; and any new skills they may have to learn.
Improvement to the traditional technologies described in the previous chapter fall into two broad groups:
•Those that rely on the energy of the sun, generally termed solar dries.
•Those that involve the combustion of a fuel, with or without fans, to increase air circulation.
THESE ARE ARTIFICIAL OR MECHANICAL DRIERS
Using solar drier has several advantages over sun drying:
• They generate higher air temperatures and consequently lower humidity, which result in faster drying rates and lower final moisture contents;
• The higher temperatures generated act as a deterrent to insect and mould growth;
• The product is protected from dust and insects within the drier;
• Drying is quicker, and if racking can be used less land is needed for spreading the crop;
•They offer a considerable degree of protection from rain, which reduces the need for labor to bring in the material;
• They are comparatively cheap to build and do not require skilled labor.
--Top-- THE CHORKOR OVEN – FISH SMOKING
The Chorkor Oven – named after a small fishing hamlet on the outskirts of Accra , Ghana has demonstrated the potentials in meeting the challenges of recent times! Traditional Fish preservation such as drying salting fermentation, frying and smoking or combination of these processes.
The Chorkor Oven was designed as an improvement of the traditional rectanglar mud Oven by adding just a set of trays. These trays that hold the fish to be smoked are constructed from wire mesh held on wooden battens.
A Maximum Of 15 Trays Of Fish May Be Smoked At A Time Although, Ten Is The Usual Number! The advantages of the Chorkor Oven include:
• Low construction cost.
• Large capacity.
• Easy to operate.
• High – Quality product.
• Low combustion of firewood.
• Shorter smoking time.
--Top-- FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Fresh Produce
Most fruit and vegetable are generally eaten fresh due to their perishable nature. However, short-term price changes occur: for example, price are higher at week-ends, holidays, and festivals. If farmers can store their produce, they can receive a better return for their crop.
Fruits and vegetables keep better when cooled but are damaged by freezing. They shrivel and wilt in air that is too dry. Different fruits and vegetables have different susceptibilities to temperature and humidity. For example green leafy vegetables are very susceptible to spoilage. Tomatoes are more resistant. Certain commodities such as onions, carrots and oranges can be stored for much longer lengths of time.
The control of temperature and humidity in the store is essential.
Simple evaporative air-cooled cabinets can be constructed and these allow small farmers to store fruits and vegetables.
In some area underground storage in pits and cellars is used, taking advantage of the naturally low temperatures underground. Hard vegetables like cabbages and carrots can be kept in this way.
Surface waxing and wrapping in paper can also help to prolong the storage of certain fruits such as apples, pears and squashes. Such measures greatly reduce the spread of rot and decay from one fruit to another if any material is damaged or bruised.
Once again, the essential point is that high quality produce will only come out from in land if good in-store management is provided. Therefore, the selection of first quality produce and rejection of bruised and damaged produce is first and most important step.
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WOOD ASH IMPROVES GROUNDNUT YIELD
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VETIVER- A SOLUTION TO FIGHTING EROSION
Vertiver is one practical and probably powerful solution to soil erosion.
It is a big , tough bunch grass and it grows to about 1 meter wide at the base, with a clustered mass of dense stems. It seems to combine several characteristics that make it unique.
• It reduces erosion by holding back soil moisture when planted
• It can survive on many soil types
• It is able to survive drought, flood, wind- storm, fire and even animal grazing
• It has a deep penetrating root system which hardly competes with neighboring crop plants for the moisture or soil nutrients
• Certain varieties bear infertile seeds and produce no stolon or rhizomes, so they remain where they are planted and can make very good protective fences to our farms
• It is cheap, easy to maintain and does not require foreign exchange or expensive materials for its maintenance
• It is not difficult to remove when no longer in wanted
• It is largely free of insects and diseases and does not appear to host for serious pests or pathogens that attack crops.
Vertiver therefore is a solution that should be acceptable to users to save our soils from EROSIONS.
--Top-- GARLIC!!! THE WONDER DRUG
Before we get into the physiological effects of garlic, I would like to say that I am not a chemist; neither am I a botanist, biologist nor medical doctor. But I can read and I do love garlic enough to read everything about it I am merely trying to pass on, to you, the results of what I have read in order to help stimulate enough of an interest for further study. If you find disagreement with the contents of this section, please leave us your comments, as we plan to update this section with the latest information as it becomes available to us. We would not knowingly or intentionally misinform anyone. Where possible, we will cite the specific source of our information and urge you read it to help you be better informed. If you have copies of research papers that we do not, please either forward them to us or tell us where we may obtain copies so that we can update our data base.
We realize we are in the middle of a controversial subject area and wish to allow you to make intelligent choices based on having the maximum amount of information. We are not trying to practice medicine, give medical advice or anything of the kind. Around our place, we just happen to like the flavor of garlic and are overjoyed that information exists to show that it has beneficial effects on our bodies. Our goal is to inform others about the research that indicates these benefits and let researchers defend their own findings.
The Physiological Effects of Garlic
Studies by competent multi-degreed scientists have shown beyond any reasonable doubt that consuming garlic generally has the following physical effects:
- Garlic lowers blood pressure a little.
- Garlic lowers LDL Cholesterol a little.
- Garlic helps reduce atherosclerotic buildup (plaque) within the arterial system. One recent study shows this effect to be greater in women than men.
- Garlic lowers or helps to regulate blood sugar.
- Garlic helps to prevent blood clots from forming, thus reducing the possibility of strokes and thromboses (It may not be good for hemophiliacs).
- Garlic helps to prevent cancer, especially of the digestive system, prevents certain tumors from growing larger and reduces the size of certain tumors.
- Garlic helps to remove heavy metals such as lead and mercury from the body.
- Raw Garlic is a potent natural antibiotic and, while far less strong than modern antibiotics, can still kill some strains of bacteria that have become immune or resistant to modern antibiotics.
- Garlic has anti-fungal and anti-viral properties.
- Garlic dramatically reduces yeast infections due to Candida species.
- Garlic has anti-oxidant properties and is a source of selenium.
Garlic probably has other benefits as well. …..
Eat Garlic for good health. Garlic is a cheaply available plant that can be easily grown in the back yard garden. It is ancient medicinal plant grown for its now therapeutic properties, which can be used for the synthesis of drugs suitable for curing common ailments like cold and cough, and for the prevention of heart diseases. It can also be used in getting rid of intestinal worms. It has also antiseptic property that can be used in cleaning wound.
Garlic is been mostly use as spice to enhance flavour and aroma of local and exotic dishes. It is a bulb crop commonly run in Savannah region of a country where soils suited for growth of onion.
Garlic based remedies has simple compound. A remedy for cold or cough requires one cup of water or milk, some sugar or honey and three cloves of garlic. Add the garlic to water or milk and boil for five minutes. Then sweeten the mixture with the sugar or honey. Drink three or four cups per day until cold cough disappear.
For heart disease, it is very simple. Eat two bulbs of garlic every week. Remember to eat all of the cloves in each bulb. Garlic bulbs are made up of about 10 to 20 cloves, so make sure you take two bulbs per week, not two cloves. This amount ofgarlic will keep your blood healthy. If you have healthy blood, you have a better chance of keeping your heart healthy and strong.
The third remedy is garlic syrup. This helps you get rid of intestinal parasites such as worms. These worms live inside your body and make you sick in your stomach. To make the syrup you will need five cloves of garlic, some sugar and some water. Crush the garlic cloves. Next, add one cup of well. Now add the crushed garlic to the water and sugar solution. Drink 1 tablespoon (5 milliliters) of this mixture twice a day. It's best to take this syrup on a empty stomach
The last remedy is garlic water for cleaning wounds. Garlic kills the germs and bacteria that can cause infection. Boil half a liter of water, and then remove it from the heat. Add 12 cloves of garlic to water. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then remove the garlic. Soak a cloth in the liquid, and place the cloth on the wound.
You can see that garlic is a wonder drug
Grow some and keep it around the house! - Healers have used the garlic for thousands of years while modern medicine has identified garlic to contain chemicals that are curative TO MANY AILMENTS. However, garlic may go into extinction if we do not cultivate them more! they are in danger of dying out in many places. We mustn't lose them! Medicinal plants offer cheap, effective and easily available cures for many conditions and illnesses for more information on garlic visit www. garlic-central.com
--Top-- THE MANY USES OF HONEY
Honey amongst other valuables contains:- Thiamin (vitamin B1) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Vitamin C helps to prevent colds and assist to build up body, the nerve organs to function properly.
• Both men and women are advised to use honey regularly as it enhances virility and fertility even in older men.
• Use honey to treat boils and whitlows by wrapping them on honey. Burns treated with honey heal without ugly scars.
• Grind Kola and garlic and mix with honey for persistent cough.
• It moves the bowels freely. Pregnant women are advises to take honey frequently as their babies will have clear skin and beautiful hair.
• Honey is equally good for rheumatism, arthritics and tuberculosis glands, when mixed with garlic.
More importantly, the use of honey mixed with soap, cleanses and promotes a clear skin.
Elizabeth Kafaru (immense help from Nature's workshop pg 171 – 172)
--Top-- NEED TO BOOST FISH FARMING
Fish is a good source of protein that contains an appreciable amount of fat. It also provides a good supply of minerals and vitamins, which are important components in a balanced diet.
It is sold in many forms, raw, cooked frozen or smoked, and in whatever form, still good for consumption and of course adds a great flavor to the cooking.
Fish products obtained from marine fish industries include: iced fish, frozen fish, salted fish, smoked fish, processed canned fish, fish silage and fish meal.
Although such by-products are not processed and commercialized, they are extensively done in the developed countries, due to lack of skilled knowledge and technological equipment.
These by-products include: Corals, pearls, Cowries shells obtained from the shell- fish (Crabs and Mollusks) and are made into various decorative items. Ink from the mollusk is manufactured into royal purple dye and artist ink. Scales of fish are also made into brush and umbrella handles etc.
Also hides of shakes Salmon and Cod are manufactured into leather for use in bags, belts, shoes etc. Glue is also obtained from cod and haddock.
Fish and its by-products are also of great importance to the industrial sector and economic growth of Nigeria .
They serve a useful purpose in economic development of a Nation. Employment, income, foreign exchange and also recreational activities are major benefits desired from fish and it's by-products.
Fish is used as biological control agents in controlling mosquito infested ponds by feeding on larvae. Weed growth is also controlled by herbivorous fish (e.g Cichlids) especially in irrigation areas, to allow smooth channeling of water.
Scientists use fish as excellent subjects. For study and anatomy, physiology, Ecology and Evolution. Many Cichlids are used in research in Ethology and experimental psychology of fish.
In medicine, the oil from cod- fish is used especially in the production of cod liver oil for medication.
Certain fish products like fish meat and fish silage are used to feed livestock. Fish oil is used to manufacture margarine, which is used in cooking. Canned products and champs are good products of export and this leads to linking of Nigeria with other fish Nations.
Fish has also played a very important role in industrial development by paving way for industries to be constructed and providing better education on fish and its conservation.
Furthermore, as a very healthy source of first class protein exceeds meat which most sick or aged people are made to exempt health and longer life. This is because despite the fact that some of these meat animals and also fish could contain diseases and poisons, fish is still less harmful and contains more ions and vitamins.
Therefore, it would be seen that there is still a lot of opportunity for fisheries development in Nigeria , especially croaker species which constitutes up to 80% of the travel landings in Nigeria .
It is saddening, however, that there is still a very wide gap between production and demand, and if more fish farming is adopted, Nigeria could be self reliant in fish protein by the year 2000, and meet up the required average animal protein intake identified as the indicator and determinant of dietary quality in Nigeria, which is at present low, about 6.5kg per day, per person compared to the 19.63kg per capital, per person as recommended by food and agricultural organization (FAO) for the maintenance of good health. Fish is highly nutritious and large local production of it at cheaper prices could also benefit the health of many Nigerians.
--Top-- A STEP AWAY FROM IODINE DEFICIENCY DISORDERS.
For at least half a century, endocrinologists have known that as little as a teaspoonful of iodine taken over the course of a life time can spell the difference between normal development and IDD (iodine deficiency disorders)
Iodine is one of the most important micro nutrients, the others being
Vitamin A and iron, and today iodine deficiency is the single greatest cause of preventable mental retardation in the world. For Lack of a medium of iodine in their diets, 1.6. Million people worldwide are at a risk of the diminished mental and physical capacities of IDD as this range of afflictions is called.
For this reason, salt iodization of edible salts has a proven record of success as the most direct fact in eliminating IDD. This is because experience has shown that iodizing edible salt is the most efficient method of providing this micro nutrient, since most human beings consume salt on a daily basis, especially in areas of floods, deforestation or erosion which rob iodine off the soil, and where peopled do not eat a diet rich in seafood or where food is grown or animal are raised on iodine – poor soil.
The intellectual and physical losses IDD causes, even in areas classified, as mildly iodine – deficient are enormous. Researchers estimate that each child in such areas may forget as many as 10 – 15 1Q points, a fact of great importance as counties with shrinking budgets struggle to educate children fortunately some of the deficit can be recouped once adequate iodine is taken.
IDD cause a great number of ailments such as poor eye – hand coordination, partial paralysis, dwarfism, facial and physical deformity, neurological damage and Goiters. Babies born to iodine – deficient mothers can be impaired irreversibly since iodine is essential during foetal development. The chance of miscarriage, stillbirth or prematurity rises significantly.
If a pregnant women is iodine deficient, her baby when born, may exhibit clumsiness, muscular rigidity, skeletal deformation and other disabilities.
Therefore the public needs to know that once salt is iodized, a crucial collective step has been taken that changes the course of a nation's developmental future, it occurred in Switzerland and the U.S, and it can happen throughout the world .
If iodized salt containing the required amount of iodine is widely available and consumed in a community, within a period of one year , there will be no further physically, mentally retarded children attributed to iodine deficiency. Children will then be more active and healthy.
Goiter, a swelling caused by growth of the through gland, indicates that iodine deficiency is working overtime and the body is labouring to absorb it. For many years, it has been the most obvious and readily recognized symptom of iodine deficiency.
--Top-- PREVENT BLINDNESS WITH VITAMIN A
If your children are having trouble seeing, you probably want to put something special over their eyes- a pair of glasses- But for a common kind of vision problem, the kind that starts when a child has trouble seeing in dim light, you should put something special in their stomach! That special something is vitamin A, which prevents blindness. Night blindness and dry eye are the kinds of blindness caused by lack of vitamin A
Sometimes blindness is called “chicken eyes”, because children with this problem trip over things in the half light before sunrise or after sundown, the way chickens trip when there isn't much light. This is also called “nutritional blindness, because it is caused by the lack of nutrient vitamin A. One thing to watch for is for children who sit quietly when the light is dim. If they have night blindness and are teased for tripping, they just be too embarrassed to walk around!
If children with night blindness don't get enough vitamins A they can develop dry eye. The medical name for dry eye is xerophthalmia. With dry eyes, part of the eye loses their natural moisture, making it more and more difficult for the eye to see. Also no light can get into the eyes at all and the child may completely go blind.
Blindness is not the only danger caused by lack of vitamin A. Children who do not get enough of it all suffer severe diarrhea or respiratory illness which can cause death.
Vitamin A helps the body make a fight against infection. It helps the body make a protective layer around the throats and tubes of our stomachs. In fact even if there is no sign of dry eye, children with vitamin A deficiency are four times likely to die as those who have enough of it- according to medical practitioners!
The need for vitamin A is greatest children are growing. This is why children and babies between six months and six years are more likely to show signs of vitamin A deficiency.
Vitamin A deficiency often starts when the mother stops breast-feeding too soon. It is therefore important to breastfeed as much as possible (two years). Children are at risk for blindness when they start to eat solid food. This is the time when they are growing very fast but are no longer getting vitamin A from their mother's milk.
What to do……
When children already have night blindness, it is time to act fast. They should get vitamin A supplements that may be prescribed by medical practitioners or through health centers, if the affected children are treated early enough they can regain their sight back. Your family should eat a lot of animal and dark green leafy vegetables, green beans, fruits like guava, eggs, liver, milk, fish oil etc.
--Top-- LOW BLOOD PRESSURE – HYPOTENTION
Every disease is capable of killing but some cause more alarm or more noise is made about them than others. Not so much is said about low blood pressure (hypertension) as the other side of blood pressure i.e (High Blood Pressure). This is likely to be so because high blood pressure affects many more people do suffer from low blood pressure.
Because the symptom of low blood pressure are similar to that of anaemia, many people may think they have anaemia when in fact they are suffer from low blood pressure.
HYPOTENTION: is caused primarily by improper nourishment arising from eating of devitalized food, which leaves excess toxin in the blood.
Devitalized food cause nutritional deficiencies. Lack of proper rest and exercise can also cause low blood pressure. Lack of vitality, lack of red blood corpuscle can also cause hypertension.
SYMPTOMS: Some of the syimptoms are: Headaches, Nervousness, Lack of energy, loss of strength, shortness of bresths and cold hands and legs.
TREATMENT: keeping a normal body temperature is very essential and deep breathing is one good way of achieving this. This Blood circulation should be enhanced by having hot bath and sponging very well. Any healthy way of increasing the circulation will be helpful.
DIET: Doctors have suggested that eating much of the following is beneficial: unpolished rice, Fresh fruit and vegetable, Millet, Maize , Guinea corn, Backed Potatoes, fruit Juice, Carrot and Beans (available locally) are very good. In selecting what to eat, the main thing to bear in mind is the food items from which one will get enough calcium, vitamins A, C, E and magnesium.
These are very essential in getting the patient over this condition. Green peas, rice, vitamins B1, B6 are also beneficial.
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AS A FARMER, WHY YOU NEED TO MAINTAIN FINANCIAL RECORDS
Cultivators of the earth are the most important citizens (Jefferson). It then follows that you as a farmer is the most important citizen of Nigeria . And I who is not a farmer is less an important citizen.
But as a farmer, are you a successful one? One of the obvious things that make you amore successful farmer is keeping of financial records.
Farming is a form of business be it at subsistence or commercial levels. It is expected that the net output at the end of the season should be more than the input in terms of monetary value. To achieve this objective, there should be proper maintenance of accounting records, which in the basic form records the income generated, and the expenses incurred during the same period of operation. These data can be manipulated to show profit or loss in the farm business within a given time bracket.
The importance of keeping financial records cannot be over emphasized as it goes much beyond knowing the extent of the profit or loss.
It is worth mentioning that financial prudence accounts for a reasonable degree in the success of a farm business since the produce could easily be consumed. Another very important element is cost consciousness. Ability to effectively cost inputs is highly encouraged. These and many other factors are the secrets behind the success of American Farmers, a continent where food is the cheapest of all things.
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