If you look at the weight diagrams for children born in the same month (appendix 6), you find that children born in January, February or March have the most severe weight development. April seems to be a good month to be born, the other months seems to have equal status. The fact that April-born children have a good weight development might depend of the fact that the appropriate time for additional food in the diet coincidences with the harvest time, which guarantees a good access of food of all sorts. But for the children born in January and February the need for additional food rises during the time of the cultivation, when the supply of food is scarce, and there is little time to prepare food. Of course there are also other influencing factors when it comes to the development of children's weight.
In conclusion one can state that the development of children's weight in Chikal deviates from the normal curve in the way that the weight almost levels in the ages of 8 to 18 months. Before the age of 6 months, the weights are almost normal. After the age of 18 months, when the children are old enough to serve themselves, the weight starts to increase again, but it is still proportionately lower than the normal curve.
The two dishes fura and tuwo/miya cover a great part of the diet, but a common dish is also the leafy dish sagai (app. 2:M5) often made of pea leaves (app. 3:B10) and sometimes of sour-sour (app. 3:A7) but it can also be made from some other leaves (app. 3:A3, A4, A12, A13). The seeds of sour-sour are used to make daudawa (for cooking see app. 3:A7) which is an important ingredient in nearly all cooking.
Then cowpeas (app. 3:B10) is used in some dishes, but the peas themselves are primarily for resale. But the leaves are used as food both for humans and for animals.
Two roots (app. 3:D6, D7) whose Latin names are unknown are included in the list. They are available only in the rainy season and could thus not be found during the time of the investigation.
The inquiry about stoves was not very comprehensive, so it might happen that more households than those mentioned use the old technique with three stones. It is quite evident that at least 25% of the households are still using this energy wasting method, a figure that is far too high. The encouraging statement that "all have improved stoves" was not quite true. Well half of them had improved stoves, and many of these (a third) were broken.
Vitamin A ought to come from the green leaves used, for instance the leaves of the baobab tree. The ladies' fingers, which is the alternative to baobab, has a comparably low content of vitamin A. Sour-sour contains, according to information given, quite a lot of vitamin A, but it disappears when the leaves are dried in the sun. More research is needed about the contents of vitamin A in the food. Above this the only new crop of the dry season which contains vitamin A to any larger extent is the carrot. It remains to see if this root will become a common plant, but it looks as if it has been well accepted by the population.
As to vitamin C, there are many important sources among leaves, vegetables and roots. The only question is how much vitamins are left after cooking.
Otherwise the risk might be that you find a solution which needs a continuous support from abroad, like for example the supply of fertilisers etc. free of charge. And if it is found to be economic to use fertilisers etc., the question might arise whether there is an infrastructure to provide for a continuous supply of these products. The day the project leaves the area this will still have to work.
An important question is if one has taken the use of leaves into consideration, when it comes to cowpeas and other improved articles. Harawa is an important ingredient in the food. The improved varieties give more peas, but what do the leaves look like, and how big is the production of leaves?
Is the supply of water enough for gardening? How much water can be taken from the wells without diminishing the water level in the wells? If everyone in Chikal would start to cultivate vegetables in the dry season, will the water be sufficient? And if not, who is to decide about the rights to cultivate?
At present the project is supplying the seeds for the gardening, but if the farmer is left alone how will he get hold of it? How and where can you find seeds that is working well in the area? Are the European varieties the best ones?
The sales of the products: is the demand in the area great enough, or are the facilities of transportation enough to send away the products for sale elsewhere?
In spite of the fact that the first reports emphasised the importance of basic knowledge at such a project, only summary investigations of nutritional status were made, when the project started and these have not been followed up. The dispensary with its weight cards gives an excellent opportunity to follow the development of the children in the area, but then it is important that the children come regularly to PMI during a long time, not only when they are ill or until they are big enough to walk by themselves.
Neither has any proper investigation been done about the composition of the food in the area. I hope this report will be a possible starting point to increase the knowledge of the genuine Nigerien diet.