Fears Proved Groundless

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31862, 14 December 1968, Page 5

Fears Proved Groundless

[ Many British- householders [set apart a portion of their [garden to grow vegetables [fresh for the dinner table—with no fear of encouraging [snakes through cultivating [their own produce. 1 Snakes were the fear of women in Nigeria, as Miss G. Wijnhoven of the Food and Agricultural Organisation explained, in a 8.8. C. World Service “The Farming -World” programme, when [she described the current home gardens project in Western Nigeria—a project important in helping the fight against poverty and hunger by giving villagers ; easy access to nutritious produce.

: “This F.A.O. project,” said Miss Wijnhoven, “brings food nearer to the people. In some areas of Western Nigeria women have a daily five-mile walk to the bush to fetch fresh food for the family. We set out to bring bush plants to the house, so that food was readily available.” A problem had been the women’s fear of snakes. They had assumed a vegetable plot near the house would soon be overrun with snakes. Happily this proved a wrong assumption early in the scheme, and the gardens had remained clear. Another problem was overcome when the women were shown how to sow and harvest the produce—everyday produce they thought could only be grown in the wild. Research established the main produce for sowing in the gardens at the start of the project, when she and colleagues visited villagers' homes to confirm their likes about food.