Профиль участника
Д-р. Sabine Gabrysch
Организация:
Heidelberg University
Страна:
Германия
Область (области) знаний:
I am working on:
A cluster RCT in Bangladesh studying the effect of HKI's homestead food production program on women's and children's nutritional status
Д-р. Sabine Gabrysch
Dear all,
happy to share into the discussion.
Re: 2) Research of impact of ag on nut
We are currently conducting a 4-year cluster-randomized trial in Sylhet, Bangladesh, called Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM; trial registration link), funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. We evaluate the impact of the Homestead Food Production program of the NGO Helen Keller International (HKI) on food security, nutrition and health. The program works with small-scale farmers training them in vegetable gardening, poultry rearing and marketing, as well as nutrition, child care and hygiene.
Soil fertility was a key constraint in FAARM home gardens, and therefore we explored the feasibility of urine-biochar as a low-cost organic fertilizer in the Biochar-Urine Nutrient Cycling for Health (BUNCH) study, together with HKI, JPGSPH and Ithaka Institute, funded by LANSA. The farmers produced biochar locally in soil-pit kilns from crop residues and mixed it with cow urine. It turned out to work quite well and we are now scaling up. Read more on this LANSA Blog.
After the flash flood in April that destroyed the Boro rice crop in our area, we are now collecting data on how badly the families were affected, their food security situation and coping strategies. As part of FAARM, we have been collecting detailed nutrition data on a rolling basis and will thus be able to assess the effects on households and particularly on children.
Re: 4) interventions for ag resilience to environmental stressors
I am trained as a medical doctor and epidemiologist and not an agriculture expert, but here a few thoughts:
Looking forward to your thoughts on this! :-)
Cheers,
Sabine