How Moringa Can End Malnutrition Around the World

If you are not familiar with Moringa’s nutritional properties, please click on this link to find out more about Moringa.

Included are some recent facts regarding malnutrition around the world.

1) About 805 million people estimated to be chronically undernourished in 2012–14. That’s around 11% of the world population.

2) Poor nutrition causes nearly 45% of deaths in children under five — 3.1 million children each year.

3) One in four of the world’s children are stunted.

Although the world has made a lot of progress against worldwide malnutrition, it is having a hard time covering the last mile, so to speak. For example, in 1995, around 788 million people were undernourished which represented approximately 15% of the world population. In the years 2012–14, even though we brought down the percentage to around 11%, due to population growth, the total number of undernourished increased to 805 million. So why haven’t we been able to close that last mile? It could probably be summed up with two proverbs:”too many cooks spoil the broth” and “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach the man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

Now that you understand the amazing nutritional properties of Moringa, you will even more amazed by the human folly of the following two stories which in essence illustrates the complete disarray of our approach to fighting malnutrition around the world. Remember, Moringa is an incredible source of Vitamin A. Please be advised that I am not knocking what these two projects are trying to accomplish, since their intentions are noble.

Bill Gates-Backed ‘Super Bananas’ Begin Human Trials

NOTE — The Gates Foundation is already funding a nutrition program using Moringa:”Gregor Reid of the University of Western Ontario and the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada with colleagues in Tanzania is testing if a yogurt supplemented with the Moringa plant can benefit under-nourished pregnant women by improving their breast milk quality and the types of bacteria present in their intestines.”

The Golden Rice Project Here is a New York Times article on the Golden Rice Project.

NOTE — The tragic irony is that Moringa is well known in the Philippines as Malunggay. They already have a great source of Vitamin A, except that it is used primarily as a medicine instead of as a food. Luckily, a plan has taken place in the Philippines to address this issue.

Capitalism, although imperfect, is the best system to find solutions to human problems. Whenever a problem arises, you have many different approaches trying to arrive at an answer. Eventually, through competition, a few are proven to be the best and they live on while the rest die off. Unfortunately, our approach to fighting malnutrition is not driven by capitalism which is why after many decades, we still have innumerable different and uncoordinated approaches without having identified tried & proven sustainable strategies. The two stories above are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, take a look at the UK’s Department for International Development policy page. If you scroll down to their Case Studies you will see a myriad of different programs without any commonalities. Or this report from Doctors Without Borders that among other things found that:”…barely 1.7% of interventions reported as ‘development food aid-food security’ and ‘emergency food aid’ in the OECD database actually address nutrition.” Or even more damning from this same report:”…according to the OECD DAC database, out of a total $2 billion a year of food aid committed by the US government, more than $1 billion goes to freight costs supporting U.S. national carriers’ interests…the cost differential between in-kind and local purchase for each region…found that local purchase could save approximately $600 million annually.”

Decades later, having tried so many different approaches to fight malnutrition in developing countries, who is keeping track of what has worked and what hasn’t? Why haven’t we developed a database to learn from our successes and failures? It seems that these questions are finally being asked and acted upon. The Lancet conducted two studies that seem to have become a guideline to action which have been adopted by Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN). However, if you take the time to read through the individual countries plans (I read through three different ones), you see a familiar and disturbing pattern — a lot of generalizations with little to no specifics.

Give a Man a Fish and You Feed Him for a Day; Teach a Man to Fish and You Feed Him for a Lifetime

The problem of relying on in-kind outside aid such as food and nutritional supplements is that it is expensive, does not promote self reliance, and if the funds dry up so do the food and supplements. It is obvious that we have to stop giving fish and start giving out fishing poles. When you factor in the entire cycle, Moringa Oleifera is the perfect fishing pole because it is the most efficient and least expensive nutrient delivery system on earth. Here is why:

1) GROWING MORINGA — It can be grown in a wide range of soil conditions including poor soils. Although it will benefit from fertilizer, it is not required. It is drought tolerant and can grow in annual rainfalls ranging from 250mm to 3000mm. The optimal growing temperature for Moringa is 75 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit but it can grow in temperatures ranging from 32F up to 110F. The optimal altitude ranges from sea level to 1800 feet but it can grow up to an altitude of 3600 feet. When you put it all together, Moringa is one of the most versatile and least resource intensive crops on earth.

Click on these links for instructions on how to grow Moringa. Link1 Link2. It must be pointed out that Moringa will die if left in standing water for long periods. If an area is susceptible to water logging, plant the Moringa in raised mounds.

NOTE — A pairing made in heaven. Moringa grows best where malnutrition rates are highest. Click on this link & scroll down to the middle of the page to see map.

2) HARVESTING & PROCESSING — Even though Moringa is a tree, when you prune it early on it will stay low to the ground like a bush making it easy to harvest. It grows extremely fast and, depending on the soil, leaves can be harvested every 60 days which provides for a constant food source throughout the year. In addition, because it’s a tree, after harvesting it grows right back, so you don’t have to plant seeds again like most traditional crops. Both harvesting and processing can be done by hand. Moringa is ideal for family gardens or small town communal plots. Click on this link to see a family harvesting & processing Moringa in Senegal — go to minute 3:40 to 4:30.

NOTE — In addition to the bush form, families should also be encouraged to grow Moringa trees so they can harvest the seeds to use for water purification and to make oil (more on that in a moment).

3) CONSUMPTION & STORAGE — Moringa leaves can be consumed raw, cooked like spinach (but heating shouldn’t exceed 5 minutes & 140F or nutrients will be lost), or in powder form after shade drying. The powder form can be sprinkled over the daily diet immediately increasing its nutritional value, and can be stored in a cool place for at least 1 year without losing any of its nutritional properties.

Here is a link to a booklet that covers the entire process of growing, harvesting, processing, storing and consuming Moringa.

The Moringa fishing pole also comes with a reel, fishing line and hooks because all the parts of Moringa are useful.

4) MEDICINE — Moringa’s medicinal value has substantial anecdotal evidence from around the world. But there is one particular medicinal value that goes hand in hand with malnutrition: it’s anthelmintic property. Moringa has a medicinal history of being used to fight parasites. Below I copied & pasted a part of Dr Jed Fahey’s study on Moringa’s medicinal properties that list the different parasites that Moringa is used for:

Helminths: Leafs, Flowers & Pods

Schistosomes: Seeds

Trypanosomes: Leafs & Roots

5) WATER PURIFICATION — Another amazing quality that Moringa has that goes hand in hand with malnutrition is the flocculant qualities of its seeds. Here is a link to a video that shows how to use it in a low tech manner.

6) SOAP — Experiments have proven that Moringa leaves can be used as an effective hand washing product. Here is a video that shows a low tech way to make Moringa soap.

NOTE — There are many lab experiments showing Moringa’s anti-microbial abilities and there are many Moringa soap products in the market. But no tests have been conducted to find out if these Moringa soap products have anti-bacterial qualities.

7) QUALITY COOKING OIL CONTAINS IODINE — Moringa seeds contain approximately 40% oil and have a high concentration of Oleic Acid which makes it a high quality cooking oil similar to Olive oil. So it can be used as a cooking oil or salad dressing oil. Of course it also includes all the health benefits that come with Oleic oil. In addition, Moringa oil has been shown to contain iodine. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3. Even though great strides have been made to conquer iodine deficiency, it is still common in many parts of the world.

8) FERTILIZER — Moringa seedcake can be used as an organic soil fertilizer. In Nicaragua, a spray using Moringa leaves has been developed to increase plant growth and yields.

NOTE — Many websites claim that Moringa achieves nitrogen fixation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fix nitrogen.

9) LIVESTOCK FEED — Many studies have been conducted with very positive results with cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits and fish. Here is a link to Feedipedia which includes extensive information on the use of Moringa as a feedstock.

NOTE — It’s important to carefully read the studies on using Moringa as feedstock to understand exactly how to use it. For example, if you feed too much Moringa to cattle it will lead to excessive protein intake which can be fatal.

There are a variety of additional uses that can be derived from the different parts of Moringa, but the above mentioned are the most important when it comes to nutrition.

The most important point is that Moringa is already being used in a number of countries in tried & proven sustainable ways. Click on this Google search link and you will see that the list is a long one. Unfortunately, all these individual efforts are not being coordinated as part of a larger organized master plan. The following are two examples that highlight the need for coordination. Please note that both of these organizations have done a lot of good around the world, the examples are only cited to provide constructive criticism.

Peace Corp volunteers already do sporadic work with Moringa. I use the word sporadic because, with all due respect, it could do a lot more. For example if you go the Peace Corps website and type in Moringa in their search engine, you get very few hits. Many of their volunteers working in Africa have already done great work with Moringa. So knowing the power of Moringa and all its different applications, you would think that the Peace Corps would have developed a specific program around it, so that all volunteers could promote it, even if the volunteer’s project is not related to nutrition.

Sprinkles is a micronutrient powder invented in the late 1990’s that is mixed in with food to provide micronutrient fortification for at risk children. When it was first invented at the request of UNICEF, nobody knew about Moringa. Sprinkles can act as a great fish, but it’s not a fishing pole because it’s not self-sustaining and requires constant funding. Except that now that the UN knows that Moringa leaf powder is a natural version of Sprinkles, why would it continue to use Sprinkles if it’s not self-sustaining? This particular example using Sprinkles in Guatemala costs $175,000 per year to aid 35,000 children. But when the funding ends, what then? This makes no sense knowing that making a one time investment in the promotion of Moringa will result in a self-sustaining and permanent solution.

If you want to see the original video which began the Moringa movement and covers all the possibilities of Moringa, please click here.

Two Different Plans

It has already been established that in-kind donations, although well meaning, don’t make sense from a cost and sustainability perspective. On the other hand, the sad reality is that making cash donations results in a lot of that cash ending up in private bank accounts and not in the hands of the people who need it the most. Corruption is a reality and you can’t blame donors for wanting to avoid this. The best way to prevent money from disappearing is to create a specific plan that establishes exactly where each dollar will be spent.

One fact that has been established by numerous studies is that malnutrition is more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. So in order to achieve the highest marginal return on any malnutrition investment, the initial investment should first be made in rural areas. Obviously, urban malnutrition has to be addressed too, but from a strategic point of view it makes sense to take one step at a time.

A second fact that has been established is that teaching rural populations how to grow, harvest and use all of Moringa’s assets on a daily basis is relatively easy & inexpensive and has an immediate and self-sustaining impact on decreasing malnutrition.

Therefore, since Moringa is so easy & inexpensive to deploy and so versatile & self-sustaining in combating the many aspects of malnutrition, it would make sense to use Moringa as THE FOUNDATION BLOCK to fight malnutrition everywhere. Once you have exploited all of Moringa’s multiple uses in each local setting, then you can begin to analyze gaps that Moringa has not been able to address, and deploy additional resources/approaches to try to fill the remaining gaps. This is the most efficient global strategy to combat malnutrition.

Plan Using Existing Community Hubs

This plan will require less money but would probably take longer to reach its goal. The plan would use existing entities to spread the use of Moringa in family gardens and communal plots. The three most natural candidates would be the Peace Corps, religious entities already involved in field work and local universities. The community hubs to be targeted would be churches and elementary schools. These hubs would be used to teach locals how to grow, harvest and make use of all the different aspects of Moringa. Here is a link to a project carried out in an elementary school in Brazil.

STEP 1 — Create a website that teaches everything about Moringa: how to grow it, harvest it, dry it, how to treat parasites with it, how to purify water with the seeds, how to extract oil from the seeds, how to incorporate it into livestock feed etc. This way, the Peace Corps and other entities being enlisted to spread the use of Moringa, can access the website and immediately learn all they need to know about Moringa. In addition, it will provide downloadable educational flyers so they can be printed locally and distributed where Moringa is being implemented. In addition, the website would act as a command center & database to track where Moringa is introduced, in order to spread its use in an organized manner. The command center will also serve as a repository for “best practices” so that everybody can learn from each other.

STEP 2 — Identify entities in targeted countries and enlist their help in spreading the use of Moringa.

Plan Hiring Local Individuals

This plan will require more money but would reach its goal sooner. The plan would hire local individuals as independent contractors to spread the use of Moringa in rural areas going from town to town. The good news is that the cost of paying a good wage is relatively low in the countries being affected with malnutrition.

Lets look at Guatemala as an example based on the $175,000 Unicef program to provide Sprinkles to 35,000 children for one year. The minimum monthly salary in Guatemala is around $331 which includes a required bonus. Lets assume you pay an individual twice that amount ($662) and include an additional $38 per month for travel expenses, so the total is $700 per month ($8400 per year) per individual hired to spread the use of Moringa. You could hire 20 workers at an annual budget of $168,000. Then add another $7,000 for miscellaneous expenses (purchasing Moringa seeds & printing educational flyers etc) which comes out to $350 per worker which totals $175,000. If you take the 35,000 children mentioned and divide it by 20 workers, it means that each worker would have to make contact with 1,750 children per year. Obviously, they won’t be reaching out to children, they will be reaching out to the parents of those children. Assuming each family has two to three children (average 2.5 children), it would mean having to reach 700 families per year. Working 5 days a week for 50 weeks, means reaching 2.8 families per day. Once these families have been made self sufficient with Moringa, you don’t have to make the same investment again next year. In addition, not only will the children benefit but also the parents which means that the same $175,000 investment is in fact having a positive nutritional influence on a total of 35,000 children plus approximately 28,000 adults (35,000/2.5 x 2 = 28,000). And this doesn’t even factor in the additional benefits of Moringa (using it as an anti-parasitic, source of oil, source of organic fertilizer etc.). Comparing these two investment models, you can see that the return on investment from Sprinkles ends after one year; whereas the return on investment from Moringa last forever because it is self-sustaining.

The above comparative exercise uses very broad brush strokes and the numbers are approximations. However, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that making that same investment in Moringa will have much higher returns than making the same investment in Sprinkles.

STEP 1 — Same as above.

STEP 2 — Hire recent university graduates to run a pilot program in a particular area/county of a country in need. Work out the kinks and then expand to the whole country. Then use that as a model to expand to other countries.