Tesis de grado previa a la obtención del titulo de Licenciado en Nutrición y Dietética, Universidad Technica del Norte, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud Escuela de Nutricion y Salud Comunitaria. / Abstract in Spanish and English.

The general objective of this investigation was to implement and strengthen family orchards for the diversification of the diet and improvement of the consumption of vegetables and fruits available in the communities of the Rinconada and Cuambo. They collaborated in the implementation and strengthening of the family orchards and by means of focal group techniques determined the readiness, seasonal variance, and alimentary habits of the available vegetables and fruits. They made 10 nutritive preparations in each community in participating shops with the foods that were harvested in the orchards and with the help of consistent educational material as 2 three-page leaflets about the “Importanceâ of Iron in the Daily Dietâ and el Importance of Vitamin A in the Daily Diet, mothers were trained. Among the principle results they were able to determine that the women were very interested in having family orchards, since it allowed them to have fresh vegetables without the need of going to the market. The majority of families have gardens and orchards for both vegetables and fruits. In the community of the Rinconada they cultivate yellow carrot, chard, cabbage, and onion. In the community of Cuambo, tomato kidney, pepper, onion paitena, and pickle any time of the year are cultivated. Families from the Rinconada have more orchards with fruit than those of the Cuambo which produce tree tomato, taxo, and blackberries. In Cuambo they produce banana, papaya, watermelon, mango, lime, avocado, guava and custard apple. The vegetables and fruits most ready, determined through focal groups, are the same ones that are produced in the orchards and families from both communities donât have the habit of buying vegetables in the market. In Rinconada, the cultivations are seasonal and the surpluses of the harvests are wasted because they have not applied appropriate elaboration and conservation techniques. All the families in the communities investigated like all the vegetables and fruits that they harvest in their family gardens, the vegetables preferably added to soups and very little to salads. The majority of mothers in these communities know that these foods are important to eat every day if they want to grow strong and prevent illness. However, these mothers donât know how to prepare, for which reason they proceeded to prepare recipes that were adapted to the habits and tastes of the consumers, the same ones that were accepted in the communities, this action helped to increase the consumption of vegetables in the different times of eating, like in lunch and dinner in the two communities, where few families eat breakfast. The consumption of fruits is minimal in Rinconada, and in Cuambo the situation improves as long as they consume it during different times of eating.