Nutrition And Population A Close Link

By Khilendra Basnyat

MANY people in the world do not take care of nutrition. However, lack of nutrition in human results in the loss of physical and mental energy and eventually death.

Alternative

Protein, which is made up from different combinations of amino acids drawn from 20 naturally occurring types, are used for structural building, the manufacture of enzymes and nucleic acids. If they are provided in excess, they are used as an alternative carbohydrate, the energy source.
Leaf protein represents the largest store of all food proteins in the world. The annual yield of protein per hectare from a leafy crop is larger than from other system so farming.

Calculating prices for the cost of either proteins or vitamin A, they are actually the cheapest products, demanding 10-30 per cent of the outlay for equivalent quantities of animal foodstuff. May be the quality of animal protein is somewhat better, but the difference in price is usually so high that leaf vegetables should be considered the cheap sources of proteins.

The loss of equilibrium between human population and its environment may be expressed in terms of deficiencies of all foods, sometimes called under-nutrition, starvation or famine. It is also expressed in terms of protein deficiency, generally called malnutrition and sub-nutrition and is indicated by the presence of various kinds of diseases.

Most forms of malnutrition are caused by a deficiency of one or more of the main component of the diet apart from carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fats and vitamins that are common in most developing countries like ours.

However, even where all the ingredients of balanced diets are available at prices which the people can pay, there are still some prejudices and taboos which limit their use. For instance, it is common to regard animal proteins as undesirable during illness and for pregnant and lactating mothers even when these people woud accept animal food in the diet normally.

Likewise, the tradition of feeding the infants in a combination of some form of sugar and water (frequently not boiled) until fats are replaced by breast milk not only deprives the infants of a natural source of easily digestible protein but exposes them to infection.

As vitamin A deficiency is widespread so is vitamin D. The deficiency or the absence of the present amounts and types of proteins is, however, probably the most difficult to remedy. In reality, protein malnutrition occurs in both developed and developing countries to an extent, which is shown by impaired growth of mental as well as physical development. For example, if a group of babies or children responds to an improvement in the protein level of their nutrition in terms of growth rates and general health, then it can be assumed that this group has been suffering from a mild form of protein malnutrition.

Countries showing the characteristics of impaired growth and development in certain proportion of the population will have a larger proportion of population suffering from milder form of malnutrition. However, the population deficient in milder form of malnutrition could rapidly respond to an improvement in the amount and quality of protein intake.

Due to high population growth and low agricultural production in most countries food problem in the world will become severe in the years to come. Consequently, many people in the world will suffer from malnutrition deficiencies such as mental retardation due to iodine deficiency, physical growth retardation and impaired reproductive function due to iodine deficiency and childhood blindness due to vitamin A deficiency. Various other nutritional deficiencies caused by zine, selenium and other trace elements will affect a large number of people in the world. Apart from this, diet related communicable diseases and cancer would also occur in many countries. The world population stands at more than 6.1 billion at present and is likely to grow by 50 per cent by 2050. The population of the developing countries is expected to increase significantly in the years to come.

According to the United Nations Population Division, the world's least developed countries and the people living under the poverty line will increase dramatically. Consequently, the governments of these countries will have no alternative except to plunge into the mire of complex problem of absolute poverty. The poor population lives on agriculture. The increase in population in the least developed countries will further deepen nutrition problem.

Source

Unless the population growth rates of these countries can be reduced, respective governments will be preoccupied with serious food shortage and therefore with the provision of food grains as the main source of calories. Actually, for a balanced diet, the proteins of these food grains would require to be fortified with the manufactured amino acids, which they are deficient.

Women Depend On Handcart For Living

By Kamala Kunwar

EDUCATED Nepalese women hate and feel shy to do small business, but Bimala Gupta has become an exemplary woman entrepreneur. A student of certificate level second year, Bimala pushes hand-cart for her sustenance.

Competition

She has been selling fruits on a hand-cart in and around Butwal Municipality Ward No. 11 Milanchowk. It is not a new occupation for her as she has been helping her parents in selling fruits on hand-cart from her childhood. The Municipality has specified areas for operating hand-cart business that includes Traffic Chowk, Chauraha, Milanchwok, Bus Park and Campus Road and others. And there are many women hand-cart operators. The competition has to some extent contribute to their economic empowerment.

Economically, socially, culturally, politically and educationally backward women are involved in the small-scale business and have become source of inspiration for other women. Of the women entrepreneurs, only Bimala has passed SLC. She is a private student of certificate second year and longs to be a graduate being a cart operator. Most of such women are illiterate and most of them have either uncooperative or chronically ill husbands. However, there are also a few hand-cart pushers whose husbands help them in their business.

Seeta Acharya who is in the profession for the past four years has been continuously victimised by her husband. After she found it difficult to sustain, she began to sell fresh maize in Traffic Chowk. She borne seven children, but only two are alive. She was tortured by her husband right from the second day of their marriage. Due to excessive consumption of alcohol, her husband has turned almost insane and does not stay at home. Her husband also finished about 150 thousand rupees that Seeta earned by selling fresh maize over the years.

Similar is the story of Tara Devi Shrestha. Shrestha is so frustrated with her husband that she does not want to take his name. If one insists, she replies that he in dead. Overpowered by hardships, she wants to maintain silence. Had there been a husband, she should not have sold pan to make a living. But her dress up shows that she is not a widow. Now she is living with her two children in an unsafe hut at ward No. 6 of Butwal Municipality.

Another hand-cart pusher Chinta Devi Burma has an ailing husband and a small son. As her name in Nepali suggests, she is very much worried about her sustenance. 'My husband is a chronic patient of heart disease', she says. Like her many other women in the profession are worried about their living. 'Time is changing. It's becoming very difficult to live due to hike, but our income does not rise, they express their worry.

However, there are a few women who have been able to manage their home in a better way through the profession. Seeta Acharya began selling fresh maize investing just one hundred rupees. Now she can purchase fruits worth Rs 10 to 12 thousand. She has also bought a piece of land in Khaireni of Rupandehi district by selling fruits in a hand-cart and she is hopeful of building a small house there.
Bimala Gupta who also has a confidence of sustaining life through the profession says that she makes a good earning. She has also bought a piece of land to build a house. Now she says that it won't be very difficult for her to build a small house. Her husband is also involved in her business. Now they do transactions worth Rs 1 to 2 hundred thousand who began doing the business with Rs 700.
The most beautiful part of the life of the cart-pushers is that most of them despite extreme difficulty have been sending their children to school. But unfortunately, their children have not passed SLC yet. According to their children, they are forced to drop study after 7 or 8 class in order to help their parents in the business. Seeta's two daughters are studying in Tilottama Lower Secondary School and she wants to send them to campus for higher study.

Most of the cart operators live in rented houses and they work from dawn to dusk. It is not easy to push cart. It is more difficult for a single woman. People look down the cart-pushers, says Chandra Man Maharjan, President of Nepal Self-Employment Hand-cart Entrepreneurs. Association.

Complaints

The Association was established two years ago with a view to making the profession dignified and organised. We have been receiving complaints regarding the business, but have not found any problem just because of being women cart entrepreneurs, says President Maharjan. However, the society does not approve of such women entrepreneurs, he adds.

Sancharika Lekhamala/Sancharika Samuha