In deciding what exactly to do our final project on, my group and I decided that were interested in the intersectionality of nutrition and sustainable agriculture. To start, we looked at the current practices and problems with Nicaraguan nutritional habits and agricultural practices. We found that the Nicaraguan diet consisted primarily of rice and beans which were great for providing calories and for satiating hunger, but weren’t necessarily the best in terms of meeting the nutritional needs of the people in the community.
So, our group began to think about ways we could spark discussion, in Nicaragua, about agricultural and nutritional habits. It was important for us not to come in from a position of trying to completely changing the agricultural and dietary habits of the locals, who know more than we do, but rather we were seeking to figure out how to spark discussion and exchange ideas. So, we decided that a tangible product that we could introduce in Nicaragua to spark discussion and provide results would be to stress the importance of the sweet potato while providing sweet potato slips to families. This would provide a tangible, beneficial and most important, sustainable solution to a problem. The sweet potato helps solve solve of the major nutritional issues (primarily Vitamin A deficiency) and can serve as a great supplement to the Nicaraguan diet.
We also created a pamphlet to distribute in both the community health and community development team to help initiate fruitful discussion about about diets and specifically, the sweet potato.
Once we were set in moving forward with the sweet potatoes, we ran into some problems in terms of seasons of sweet potato slips sale and shipping internationally. In the end, we weren’t able to purchase the sweet potato slips to distribute, but we are currently looking into purchasing the slips in Nicaragua and then having them transported to Siuna. If that doesn’t work, we plan on providing seeds of other vegetables to encourage a more well-rounded diet.
Please see above for an infographic regarding the sweet potato.