Experts discover ‘green bread’

A recent discovery by some renowned experts from various fields, on Tuesday revealed that “green bread” can be produced using processed vegetables.

Prof. Durodoluwa Oyedele, the Project’s Principal Investigator for Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun, made the disclosure on Tuesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

NAN reports that the break-through was sequel to a group project -“Fertiliser Micro-dosing for Indigenous Vegetables,’’- currently being executed by science experts.

Other experts involved in the project were from Osun State University, University of Parakou in Benin Republic, University of Manitoba and University of Saskatchewan, both in Canada.

The experts range from soil scientists to agronomists, food scientists, gender experts, sociologists, economists and communication experts.

Oyedele told NAN that the vegetables used for the “green bread’ are Fluted Pumpkin (Ugwu) and African Egg Plant (Igbagba), which had been processed into powdered form and mixed with flour.

“We have found out that Ugwu and Igbagba, when processed into powdered form and mixed with flour gave good quality bread, without compromising the quality of the bread.

“It produces a richer product with higher zinc and iron content; it looks good and can be used in confectionaries like biscuits and in bread.

“We tagged it green bread because the bread will be green in colour and can be likened to Rye bread that is black bread produced in Denmark and Russia.

“We have brown bread; nothing stops us from producing green bread (vegetable fortified bread, rich in nutrients),’’ the don said.

Oyedele, who described the project as multinational and multi-situational, said it was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Canada.

“The International Development Research Council (IDRC) in Canada has the project oversight,” he said.

The don said the first phase of the project, executed between 2011 and 2014, was based on the observation that there were indigenous
Nigerian vegetables that were not widely cultivated but had good food values.

He said vegetables like African Egg Plant (Igbagba), Amaranthus Virides (Tete Abalaye), Fluted Pumpkin (Ugwu) and African Nightshade (Ogunmo), among others, were usually harvested in the wild.

Oyedele, a soil scientist in the Faculty of Agriculture, OAU, said the vegetables were not consciously cultivated until now.
He said that in the ongoing second phase of the project, the researchers had been able to extract polyphenol, an anti-oxidant, widely used in the food industry for food fortification from the vegetables.
“Out of all the indigenous vegetables, we are concentrating on promoting the cultivation of Ugwu, Igbagba and Tete Abalaye because of their wide acceptance.
“Ugwu and Igbagba give high quantity of good quality polyphenols: the antioxidant is used in canning, as food additive and in food supplements.
“Our main aim is to make vegetable production sustainable,’’ the don said.

Oyedele said farmers across South Western Nigeria and the Republic of Benin were undergoing training on micro-dosing, “the safest use of fertiliser without any effect on environment and quality of vegetable’’.

According to him, the first phase of the project involved identification of indigenous vegetable, development of production methods and establishment of their nutritional values.

Oyedele said that the second phase of the project, however, involved the scaling up of the three vegetables considered to be of prime value.

He said the project was not only meant to popularise the cultivation of the vegetables but also to empower women involved in the cultivation.

“Though, the project is laudable but we found out in the first phase that market is one of the areas that can stimulate the cultivation of these vegetables.

“We are looking at different avenues to market these vegetables,’’ Oyedele said.

Oyedele told NAN that the objective of the second phase, apart from opening up of markets was to enrich 250,000 farmers in Nigeria and Benin Republic through productive cultivation of the vegetables.