The Importance of Moringa Ecosystem-based Adaptation to enhance Pastoralist Resilience by Conserving Buska Massif Mountain Forest Project Period: April 2014 December 31, 2014 Moringa Production Builds Resilience and Reduces Agricultural Disaster Risk in South Omo Zone Project Period: June 2014 December 31, 2015 EASIER: Enhancing the Ability to Scale Initiatives that Enable Resilience Project Period: January December 31, 2016
South Omo Zone Malnutrition: high Food Security: 85% of Dasenech are PSNP recipients Maternal/child mortality: high Average rainfall: < 400 mm per annum Environment: Arid, sandy, shrinking grazing grounds Conflict: Escalating: between tribes and between tribes & GoE Literacy: Adult literacy in Dasenech <1% GoE infrastructure: Weak with poor linkage to communities
Life in South Omo Requires a Fine Balance
The land is harsh and arid
Water is scarce
The children are beautiful
The young people posture...
Men have little to do
And, the women work
Global Team for Local Initiatives (GTLI) mission is to build resilience in South Omo Zone Woreda Population Health Environment Livelihood Hamer 39,495 25,229 2,772 Dasenech 10,918 37,257 21,930 501 BenaTsemay 10,579 12,456 - - Nyangatom 13,159 - - Total 21,497 102,367 47,159 3,273
Moringa: the Tree of Life Drought-resistant Grows fast Produces for 60-100 years and available for continuous harvest Water stored in roots discharges into surrounding soil Continuous source of: Food Humans Animals Nutrition Medicine Water Purification Economic Opportunities Soil Conservation Fertilizer Biogas
GTLI and Moringa stenopetala Year Seedlings distributed Vulnerable Households Woreda 2014 21,140 867 Hamer 2015 22,804 1,710 Hamer 2015 56,838 3,985 Dasenech 2015 6,504 10 Producer Assn Dasenech 2016 14,000 1,402 Dasenech Total 121,286 6,364
Moringa Stenopetala cultivation Naturally grows in riverine and acaciacommiphora woodland and rocky ground Evergreen perennial plant that can be productive for 60-100 years Grows year around and is available for continuous harvesting, 6-12 m tall, 60 cm diameter, smooth bark Likes arid & semi-arid lands free from termites & intensive grazing, tolerates alkaline and saltprone Moisture: 250 mm/year to 1600 mm/year Propagated by seed or by cuttings, can be replanted by retaining only 30 cm of lateral and tap roots Vulnerable to moth (noorda blitealis) larvae (caterpillar) and termites M. oleifera is better known but not as potent Day 1: 42,000 potted seed bags Day 90: 42,000 seedlings ready for distribution
M. Stenopetala locally known as Shiferaw or Haleko Physical characteristics Length Weight yield/ year/ tree Yield / hectare / year Leaflets Light green, ovate, acute 3.3 6.5 cm 1-5 kg 10,000 15,000 kg/ha with 1 m x 1 m spacing Flowers Sweet scent Petals up to 10 cm Pod Creamy gray 6-9 cm 230 pods/ tree or 15-20kg 31,000 kg /ha with 2.5 x 2.5 m spacing Seeds / Pod In 10 years, one tree can produce up to 4,500 10,000 seeds that weight 2.3 5 kg from approximately 500 1,000 pods
Improves food security & nutrition Contains high amounts of essential amino acids and vitamins A & D Believed that if consumption in Ethiopia was wide-spread, child and maternal mortality rates could be reduced by 30-50% nationally Leaflets can be stripped and eaten like spinach (fresh, dried, powder) Fresh Leaves Dried Leaves Vitamin A 4 x carrots 10 x carrots Vitamin C 7 x oranges ½ x oranges Calcium 4 x milk 17 x milk Potassium 3 x bananas 15 x bananas Iron ¾ x spinach 25 x spinach Protein 2 x yogurt 9 x yogurt
Animal fodder: Cut and carry leaves and pods Moringa products should be 40% or less of animal fodder (protein needs to be balanced by other energy food) Cattle: milk yields for dairy cows and daily weight gains for beef cattle can increase 30% Breeder chickens: improve growth performance, feed efficiency, and carcass yield Sheep: improve dry matter intake, body weight gain and nitrogen retention
Medicine: Rutin is the magic ingredient Ailment Process Claim Study High blood pressure Diabetes Malaria, hypertension, stomach pain Boil leaves and drink as tea Aqueous leaf extract and/or butanol faction of ethanol extract Boil leave or chopped roots, drink as tea Drop in systolic and diastolic Reduce high blood glucose and cholesterol levels Mengistu (2012) Toma (2012) Water-borne diseases Methanol & n-hexane extracts of seeds Antimicrobial agents against Salmonella typhii, vibrio cholera & e-coli Walter (2011) Bacterial disease Defatted and shelled seeds Antibiotic activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella spp, & Candida albicans Mekonnen (2003)
Traditional Uses Purpose How Where Expel retained placenta from women and cows Infusion of leaves Leprosy Infusion of leaves Turkana - Kenya Treatment for cough and fortifying soup Difficult labor Chew the bark Inhale smoke from burning root Njemps Kenya Somalia Epilepsy Inhale smoke from burning root Konso - Ethiopia Expel snakes from homestead Root extracts Gamo Gofa - Ethiopia
Water Purification Seeds are natural flocculation agents with anti-microbial properties Whole crushed seeds remove turbidity from waters with high initial turbidity Bacterial contamination can be reduced by 90-99% Seed powder removes heavy metals from industrial waste water Chromium from tannery effluent Cadmium & lead from polluted water
Economic Uses and Potential Applications Leaflets sold for food (fresh, dried, powder) Oil extracted from leaflets and seeds Edible oil has properties similar to olive oil Light for illumination Cosmetics, perfumes and soaps Lubricating machinery Seed cake obtained after oil extraction Protein supplement in animal feed Biogas production Organic fertilizer Water purification Flowers increase honey production Bark is used to make mats and rope Wood is soft and makes excellent pulp
Sources Guide to Use and Processing Practices Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network The African Moringa is to change the lives of millions in Ethiopia and far beyond Solomon Habtemariam, Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 2016 Extractability of Rutin in Herbal Tea Preparations of Moringa stenopetala Leaves by Solomon Habtemariam and George K. Varghese. 2015 Actual and potential applications of Moringa stenopetala, Underutilized Indigenous Vegetable of South Ethiopia: A Review, Eyassu Seifu, International Journal of Agricultural and Food Research, 2014 The Moringa Tree by Dr. Martin L. Price, published 1985; Revised 2000 by Kristin Davis The Hunger Project-Ethiopia brochure Trees for Life www.treesforlife.org
GTLI Best Practices Propagate in local nursery sites Integrate with Community-based Learning in Action (CBLA) Healthy Children, CBLA-WASH, CBLA- Nutrition and Integrated Functional Vocational Literacy Build the capacity & motivation within the community Moringa is the perfect fish hook. When we throw are regular fish hook in the Omo river, we don t always catch a fish. But with moringa, we always catch our food. Now we are not so hungry and our stomach pain is less Netsale Neguanaluk, July 2016
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