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| Title: | Seasonal pattern of activity and its nutritional consequence in Gambia |
| Editors: | Lawrence, M. Lawrence, F. Cole, T.J. |
| Book title: | Seasonal variability in Third World agriculture: the consequences for food security |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Pages: | 47-56 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Gambia |
| Subjects: | pregnant women malnutrition food shortage food production seasonality |
| Abstract: | The authors recently completed in Keneba, a village in western Gambia, the Gambian component of a multinational study of energy balance during pregnancy and lactation. This involved longitudinal measurements, over a period of up to three years, of changes in maternal adipose tissue stores, changes in various aspects of total energy expenditure, and changes in total food intake. In this chapter they concentrate on the seasonal demands of agricultural work and their effect on the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating rural Gambian women. They estimate that in June-July, the period of most intensive agricultural work, total energy expenditure of women rises by more than 300 kcal/day, with most of this extra requirement having to be met from adipose tissue energy reserves. Seasonal food shortages occur because both stored food supplies and the cash derived from the sale of groundnuts are exhausted before the next harvest comes in. The authors show the adverse effects of seasonal food insecurity as indicated by reduced birthweight, and address practical policy options for reducing seasonal malnutrition, including the role of food supplementation programmes. |