Amaranth Evaluation

I had the interesting opportunity to participate in part of an evaluation of a past World Renew project that was promoting using grain amaranth (as well as the edible leaves) to improve health and nutrition in East Africa.  Edward and I traveled from Soroti to Lira and met up with the rest of the team: some other World Renew staff (Jim and Tom) and a professor from Makerere University in Kampala (Dorothy).

People are very used to eating the leaves of amaranth species that grow in this area, but most are not aware of the amaranth varieties that can be grown for the edible seed.  So this program had introduced the crop to communities where it would hopefully grow well, fit into peoples' diet easily, and improve their health.

In the evaluation, I went along on visits to two separate villages where people have been growing grain amaranth since around 2008.  Through various interactive activities and discussion, we heard about the impact of this amaranth project and peoples' appreciation and disappointments of different aspects of the project.

People used seeds to show the relative importance of different crops that they grow to their overall well-being.  Amaranth came out on top.

They brainstormed the important events in the history of amaranth in their areas.

One farmer brought some popped amaranth and some amaranth flour for us to see and take home.  He described to us the way that he likes to prepare it.

It was really interesting to hear the stories of how amaranth has improved peoples' health.  They told us that when they feel weak, they eat something like amaranth porridge and they get strength.  People who had malnourished children fed them amaranth and they gained their energy back.  We heard about how the CD4 counts of people living with HIV/AIDS went up significantly once they added amaranth into their diet.  One woman even said that when she started eating amaranth, she got pregnant!

There were some disappointments with the program.  Many people had expected grain amaranth to be a cash crop, but were not able to access a big enough market to make lots of money off of it.  However, most people continued to grow it on a small scale for their personal use because they enjoyed the taste and realized that it was good for their health.

So while we're on the topic of amaranth, Edward and I each took home some of the popped amaranth and the amaranth flour.  I also harvested the leaves from the amaranth growing in my garden.  So, below is a meal which incorporated amaranth flour (in the naan - 2 c. all-purpose flour, 1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour, 1/4 c. amaranth flour) and amaranth greens cooked with the carrots.  The other item is hummus, in case you were wondering.