Agrifood Chain

The second component of the SCLANSA-FVC project focused on establishing programmes to improve the nutritional quality and safety of the selected value chains. Given that beans are an important food and security crop, nutrient profiling activities were carried-out on 15 cultivars of common beans harvested in the target communities in Malawi and Zambia from the 2016/17 yield. The nutrient profiling was conducted at the Bioresource Food Processing Lab at McGill University. The bean cultivars included Boma, Madondo, Sugar, White, Satana, Msiska, Masusu, Kabulangeti and Magungulu. The average protein, fat and carbohydrate contents of al samples were 25.8, 1.34 and 60.01% respectively, with the gross energy varying between 1474 to 1499kj/100g.

Analysis of variance among the different chemical components showed that Maine and White beans had the highest and lowest protein of 28.4 and 23.1% respectively. The protein contents recorded were in the range of reported common beans protein content in literature however, they were relatively higher than some common bean powders reported in literature and other legumes such as chickpeas, peas and lentils but lower than others like Faba beans.

Analysis of variance among the different chemical components showed that Maine and White beans had the highest and lowest protein of 28.4 and 23.1% respectively. The protein contents recorded were in the range of reported common beans protein content i literature however, they were relatively higher than some common bean powders reported in literature and other legumes such as chickpeas, peas and lentils but lower than others like Faba beans.

Essential to any nutrition intervention is the impact of processing as it determines how much of the nutrients are still available prior to consumption. Knowledge of the nutrient profiles of raw beans samples was not enough to estimate nutritional quality of food consumed therefore, it was important to evaluate how much of these nutrients are still available after cooking since beans are consumed cooked.

Testing the impact cooking had on the selected cultivars showed that the cooking of common beans significantly alters the mineral composition. Macro-mineral degradation was observed and found to range from 6.8-28.2% for phosphorus (P), 10.7-14.8% for calcium (Ca) and 45.8 -53.2% for potassium (K). Among the micro-minerals, higher losses were incurred for the Kabulangeti cultivar when it was cooked (88% loss of selenium (Se), 70.3% loss of cobalt (Co), 63% loss of Nickel (Ni) and 43% loss of magnesium (Mg)).

Similarly, cooking the Maine cultivar resulted in higher losses of Ni (74%), Iron (Fe) (42%) and Mg (31%). These higher mineral losses can be attributed to the leaching of minerals as cooking Kabulangeti and Maine cultivars require 200 and 180 minutes respectively, to achieve the pre-determined softness.

It is important to note that even after cooking the selected bean cultivars, their mineral composition is still superior to those of cereal as the K composition of these cultivars for example, is at least 9.5, 2.8 and 1.9 times more than that of uncooked rice, corn and wheat respectively.

The sprouting of beans is an important process which increases the nutrient-density and nutraceutical properties of common beans. As part of the SCANSLA-FVC project, an investigation was conducted into how sprouting affects nutrient-density and nutraceutical properties of common beans. Nutrients, dietary fibre, anti-nutrients, polyphenols and antioxidant potential were analysed in common beans. Analysis showed that sprouted common beans can serve as ingredients for the formulation of healthy food products as the sprouted beans in general, had a higher NRF9.3, RRR and SAIN-LIM scores when compared to their unsprouted forms.

In addition to analysing sprouted beans, part of the project involved conducting focus groups to develop and test the acceptability of nutrient-dense powders made from locally available products in Chitipa District, Malawi. Two focus group discussions (FDGs) were held which identified two local fish species (Mutera and Usipa), two dark leafy vegetable species (Iswala and pumpkin leaves) and one bean species (Mwasipengile) to be processed into powder using simple processing methods. These powders were subsequently incorporated into three local recipes and tasted by pregnant and lactating women, children aged 6-24 months and caretakers (including men).

It is important to note one difference in the mwasipingile beans there used in each community. In Kameme, participants elected to use raw beans as they wanted to include beans with maize before milling. Researchers explained that it is necessary to cook raw beans for a longer period of time but Kameme women thought it would be advantageous to mill beans with maize to fortify maize mill (which is cooked for long periods of time to make nsima) as well as cut down on time spent drying and pounding beans at home. In Lufita on the other hand, the beans were soaked for 12 hours and dried before the cooking demonstration.

20 participants tasted and evaluated recipe 3- a juice made of oranges and dark leafy vegetable powder added as well as a small amount of sugar (about 1tbsp added to the juice of 20 oranges). Responses varied amongst participants but the majority ranked the juice highly (4 or 5) across all categories. Approximately one-quarter of the group was neutral or did not like the juice stating that its appearance was not enticing.

Eight infants tasted recipe 3 and their evaluation acceptance determined, all in the presence of their caretakers. Results showed that all infants tried the juice and were all happy with it according to each of their caretakers. Each mother’s i.e., caretaker’s judgement of acceptability varied from neutral to very good.

Overall, testers took a liking to the local dishes demonstrating that the use of nutrient-dense powders could be a feasible solution to improving nutrition during the first 1000 critical days of life in Chitipa District.

In order to improve the supply of the quality of fish products from producers in Malawi (specifically fish processors in Karonga) to the consumers in Chitipa, through SCANSLA-FVC, the use of solar tent fish dryers was promoted and their use encouraged to the fish processors in Karonga. The reason for this was because at the time, most of the processing technologies in the Karonga area resulted in high losses and unhygienic fish products. During the reporting period, the project team visited Ngala fish landing site in Karonga to see and appreciate the traditional fish processing methods used at the time as well as assess the feasibility of the project and scale out the solar tent fish dryer technology in the area.

By the end of the project one (1) solar tent fish dryer of 12m in length by 5m in width and a height of 2.5m had been constructed for the Gumi Fish cooperative in Karonga. The structure had the capacity to process 1 tonne of fish per one drying cycle which usually takes a maximum of 1.5 days. This gave fish processors the opportunity to dry fish in an environment that was free from rain, dust and insects. In addition, the solar tent fish dryers are faster and provide a more hygienic way to dry fish instead of using the traditional open sun drying method.

Using a solar dryer speeds up the drying process considerably, resulting in a high-quality product with an extended shelf-life. Even under high humid conditions, solar dryers can have other advantages such as:

• It is rain-proof and hence can be kept in continuous operation even during bad weather
• Drying in an enclosed environment protects the products from dust, dirt and attack from birds, rodents and insect infestation

In order to create synergies within the SCLANSA-FVC project in Malawi, a linkage was made between fish processors in Karonga (producers and suppliers of quality fish products), Kameme women group (consumers of fish products) and Lusuwilo Community Based Child Care Center in Chitipa (consumers of fish products). All groups were appreciative for the introductions as it helped the women groups from Chitipa to obtain constant and high-quality supply of fish for fish powder production while the Kaaronga fish processors were grateful as through this linkage they secured better markets in Chitipa where they could sell their fish. Through this linkage, the fish supply chain from Karonga to Chitipa and the utilisation by consumers in Chitipa was improved.

A rapid assessment of synergies and linkages in the fish value chain (Malawi) done prior to the construction of the solar drier found that Chitipa, Kapoka, Sapolera, Kameme, Lufita, Karonga and Ngala were the main accessible fish markets acting as sources and destinations of fish products traded in Chitipa. Interestingly, the study also revealed that fish products from Zambia and Tanzania were also traded in Lufita, Kameme and Chitipa markets. This demeonstrated that the supply of fish products could be used in the production of nutrient-dense foods for improved nutritional security for children and lactation mothers in Chitipa.

In order for fish to be transported from source to final destination, different means of transport were used from minibuses to lorries to motorbikes. The fish value chain assessment revealed that minibuses provided traders the cheapest and most available method of transporting fish from primary or secondary sources to other destinations. Respondents indicated that they rarely used lorries as costs for them were very high when compared to other means and that their fish produce was usually damaged on route due to poor stacking of fish cartons in the lorries. In addition, respondents also claimed that buses were only used on rare occasions to transport fish due to delays while other small fish traders within small markets in Chitipa used motorbikes to transport fish from the markets for retailing in their villages.

Estimated Magnitude of Fish Trade per Month in Target Areas in Chitipa, Malawi

Based on the results presented in the table above, sundried usipa was the main highly and locally traded fish product (184 tons per month) within most markets in Chitipa District followed by paraboiled usipa (33.4 tons per month), smoked mcheni (10.2 tons per month) and smoked masuhunju (6.4 tons per month).

Ensuring food safety along the value chain is an integrated aspect of meeting the community nutrition agenda and thus played an important part in the SCLANSA-FVC project. Aflatoxin toxicity has always been and hence was an issue of concern in both Malawi and Zambia. This aspect of the project looked to develop the concept of a simple handheld detection system based on near infrared (NIR) hyperspectral imaging and investigated the potential of this technology to detect aflatoxin toxicity in common beans which at the time difficult to detect.

NIR hyperspectral imaging combined with chemometrics and two classification techniques (PCA-LDA and PLSDA) were applied to develop a rapid, inexpensive and non-invasive method for aflatoxin detection on the surface of been seeds. Partial least square discriminant analysis (PCLDA), principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were used to develop two models to classify contaminated and uncontaminated bean seeds. The best performing classification method was PCA-LDA as it yielded an accuracy ranging from 60-100% in terms of sensitivity and specificity in calibration and validation. Overall, our results indicated that hyperspectral imaging is a feasible method for non-destructive detection of aflatoxins.

To ascertain the total gains from using proposed improved fish processing technologies in the Northern Province of Zambia, part of the project included a study that examined the fish processing technology, energy dynamics and and the impact on the environment at the time. The study also evaluated the impact of processing conditions on fish quality and the cost of the different processing systems available in the selected communities.

Results showed that fuelwood was the primary source of energy for fish processing and was used either in a modified three-stone fire (MTSF) system or a recently developed kiln. The charcoal stove alternative had the least fuel consumption but was not considered as the preferred option de to the high cost of the fuel and longer processing times with a smaller quantity of fish processed per batch.

Results also revealed that irrespective of the system used, the type fish being processed and the pre-smoking drying time had a significant impact on total energy consumption. Overall, the smoking kiln was found to increase the quantity of fish processed by five folds, reduce fuel use by 48% and provide a 39% reduction in the overall smoking time per kilogram of fish processed. A relatively high fish quality was obtained using the smoking kiln method in comparison to both the MTSF and charcoal stove systems. Therefore, the use of the smoking kiln as a fish processing system was recommended to fish processors because:

• it improves the quality of fish
• can scale up fish processing due to its capacity
• reduces energy use with its associated costs