Combating Hidden Hunger

Problem

With approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide experiencing irregular access to nutritious or sufficient food, what can be done to help combat food shortages and malnutrition in food-insecure countries?

Findings

Rural sociologists led a multidisciplinary project—Women in Agriculture Network (WAgN): Cambodia—to address the pressing need in the country for diversified farming systems that can improve nutrition and farm profitability.

• Researchers gathered data from farm inventories of neglected and underutilized indigenous plants, wet- and dry-season market and price surveys, gender-focused farmer interviews, and first-time nutritional analysis of unique perennial vegetable species.
• Produced a list of wild food plants with nutritional and marketplace value.

Impact

The research is an example of the value that practical training and applied research can have by providing Cambodian farmers, mainly women who manage small farms, with ways to diversify their operations.

• "Wild gardens" can aid in fortifying home food security by combating hidden hunger or deficiencies of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals.

Related Research Areas: Community Resilience, Capacity and Integrated Health Solutions

Research Credit

Team

• Rick Bates, Leif Jensen, Ann Tickamyer, Sovanneary Huot

Participating Departments

• Plant Science
• Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education

Competitive Funding

• S. Agency for International Development
• Kansas State University Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab

Federal and State Appropriations

• State Project PEN01845, Accession #0055314
• USDA NIFA Hatch Projects PEN04677 and PEN04623, Accession #1017791 and #1013257

Emerging Discoveries

Agricultural diversification: Empowering women in Cambodia with 'wild gardens'

June 05, 2018

Teaching Cambodian farmers — mainly women who manage small farms — ways to diversify their operations for improved nutrition and extra income is one aspect of a multidisciplinary project led by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and called "Women in Agriculture Network (WAgN): Cambodia."

Penn State, National University of Battambang project will aid food security

March 12, 2021

Improving the economic and household nutrition prospects of women farmers and their families in Cambodia is a key focus of a new partnership between Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, the National University of Battambang and the World Bank.