Since 2015, a U.S. Agency for International Development and Virginia Tech Education and Research in Agriculture collaboration has introduced and tested mung bean as a potential crop to alleviate malnutrition and food insecurity in Senegal. This MS thesis describes a study conducted to assess the impact of mung bean on dietary diversity of Senegalese women and children in the Kaolack, Matam and Bakel localities of Senegal. A mixed-methods research approach included individual surveys to determine dietary diversity scores (DDS) and focus groups to assess the perceived impacts of mung bean. The dietary diversity survey was conducted with 194 participants including adult women, ages 15 to 70 years (n=109) and children, ages 0-10 years (n=85). Half (52%) of the population were mung bean consumers. The dietary diversity surveys revealed an average DDS of 5.73 on a scale of one to 10, with 5.83 and 5.62 for mung bean and non-mung bean consuming groups, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in DDS between mung-bean consuming women and both mung bean and non-mung bean children, and between mung bean and non-mung bean consumers in Bakel; however, there was no significant difference between overall mung bean and non-mung bean groups DDS. Focus groups (n=11) with mung bean consuming women identified perceived agricultural, health, and financial benefits associated with mung bean consumption. These results can increase our understanding of how mung bean may influence policy-relevant issues for the Senegalese population, including agricultural, health and financial outcomes that are not reflected in dietary diversity surveys. / Master of Science / Since 2015, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Virginia Tech Education and Research in Agriculture (ERA) collaboration has introduced and tested mung bean as a potential crop to alleviate malnutrition and food insecurity in Senegal. This MS thesis describes a study conducted to assess the impact of mung bean on dietary diversity of Senegalese women and children in the Kaolack, Matam and Bakel localities of Senegal. Individual surveys (n=194) to assess dietary diversity scores (DDS) were conducted with both mung bean and non-mung bean consuming women and children. The results of these surveys revealed that there were statistically significant higher DDS in mung bean consuming women compared to both mung bean and non-mung bean children, and statistically significant higher DDS in mung bean vs non-mung bean consumers in the Bakel locality. However, there was no significant difference between overall mung bean and non-mung bean groups DDS. Additionally, focus groups (n=11) were conducted with only mung bean consuming women. The focus group results indicated perceived agricultural, health, and financial benefits associated with mung bean consumption. Combined, these results can increase our understanding of how mung bean may influence policy-relevant issues for the Senegalese population, including agricultural, health and financial outcomes that are not reflected in dietary diversity surveys.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/86361 |
| Date | 20 June 2017 |
| Creators | Vashro, Taylor Nadine |
| Contributors | Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Hulver, Matthew W., Farris, Alisha, Kraak, Vivica, Abaye, Azenegashe Ozzie |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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