Community Perceptions of Zinc Biofortified Flour during an Intervention Study in Pakistan
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Setting and Design
2.2. Sampling and Selection of Study Participants
2.3. Ethical Considerations
2.4. Data Collection
2.5. Data Protection
2.6. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Participant Characteristics
3.2. Study Findings
3.2.1. Contribution to Food Security
“Nowadays there is a lot of poverty, and a bag is for 1200 (USD 6.81) or 1300 (USD 7.38) Rupees, but we receive this thing (flour) here.”(A Jirga member)
“We are poor people, we can’t afford fruit, we eat this flour which improves our children, and their health improves as well, and it is good for the rest of the young ones and elders as well. There isn’t any fruit and so we just consume this flour, that is why it is good for us. (Another woman) We bake the bread and we eat it with joy because this is a poor country [area], no one can afford meat, so it is just the flour we consume it and we consume it eagerly.”(A woman)
“They give me 3 bags which are not enough for a month for me, so I buy 2 small bags, we are 12 to 13 people (family members) 3 bags are not enough for a month for me. We have to eat other flour because this flour isn’t sufficient for me.”(A woman)
“We are very happy for receiving the flour. We pay back the money that we save by receiving this flour to those we had borrowed from. So, this scheme saves money for us and keep our oven fine (chuckling), our stomach linings are good with it. We can’t afford fruit due to the poverty. All these people are poor, and we are very grateful for receiving this”.(A woman)
“There was one issue that it wouldn’t cover the whole period of month uninterruptedly when not delivered on time [so they would have to use other flour during that gap]. That issue was there in the initial months but when they arranged this store here and the goods came here then there hasn’t been any shortage until this month, in this month there is a shortage, our flour is finished and we (borrow) it from one and other home.”(A jirga member)
“The conditions deteriorated very much during the Corona, everything was affected yeah, but we were happy that at least we have been receiving this one relief, our food was good.” (A jirga member). Another Jirga member said, “There was a lot of difficulty, there was shortage for some time, the vehicles were banned absolutely, and if this flour were not available people would have had a big problem.”(A jirga member)
“We wouldn’t go as a big crowd, they would give us a schedule telling us this is when your turn is, so there would be no crowd created. Because of that the process was a bit slow but other than that we would receive a call on time to let us know that your share has arrived. So, it was handled well during the pandemic (A jirga member). No we have not, we received it regularly on time.”(Another jirga member)
3.2.2. Better Sensory and Baking Properties Than Local Flour
“When the bread of the bazaar [flour] cools down for a while then it turns into something like a rubber, it becomes firmer. But this flour becomes like (our very own) wheat. Its colour is also good, white colour. This flour is much better flour than the bazaar one; our females tell us this is very easy for them in fermenting, they say wetting it is very easy for them (A man). sir, there is absolutely difference between this one and the bazaar one.”(Another man)
“There is a big difference; the big difference is that there is no idea what is getting mixed into the other flour. The cold (old) bread is also mixed into it and this is something I saw with my own eyes in a flour mill.”(A man)
3.2.3. Perceived Health Benefits of the Flour
“Our throats used to have a problem all the time, all the time but since we have started this flour, we got rid of that (throat problem). When we were eating the common flour, we had to take stomach tablets in the morning but since we have started this flour, we don’t have any stomach problem, our stomachs are fine. Since we have started, we didn’t have any throat issue and even we didn’t have a flu. All of us and our children became stronger. There isn’t any (problem) with it, and we want this project to run further because it is beneficial, and it has benefited us very much.”(A man)
“We hadn’t eaten flour like this before. Stomach and abdomen and so on also haven’t got any problem with it. But the issue is that they say that after one and a half month or two months, this is going to finish so it means we will go back to the situation we had been in before. So, our request is that whoever is behind this decision they would listen to us and so they keep this continuing for some more time.”(A man)
“We are in good health with this, but we don’t know what to do as now our health is going to deteriorate.”(A woman)
3.2.4. Willingness to Pay for the Flour
“I will certainly buy it because we have used it and we know it. It helps our health and brings energy therefore we will definitely be buying this flour. (A man) It is absolutely like that, I mean, if we stopped receiving the flour, and it were available at the market and if it is in a shop in the market then we will be buying it as we know the benefits of it.”(Another man)
“We are poor people… so the price should be reduced for us, but when you bear in mind it’s better quality then if it is 200 (USD 1.14) or 100 [rupees] (USD 0.57) more expensive, it will be fine. It is good.”(A woman)
“The reason we will be buying this one is… even if this is ten or eight rupees (USD 0.057) more expensive then so be it as all praise be to Allah we are protected from illness and problems that children would have... We are labourers and we would miss our labour work [for taking our children to a doctor]... So we do not have to bother about those problems anymore and that’s why we are using this flour, so if this flour comes out in the market by the grace of the holy Allah, then we will be using it.”(A man)
“In terms of baking, we ask our women about (and they say) it doesn’t get over yeasted, and they say this (flour) is good whether it is baked in a saucepan or in an oven it comes up with the same beautiful bread. So, our family will tell us to bring this one and we will certainly bring it. When we do our labour work then we will certainly buy this flour bag.”(A jirga member)
“We request the government of Pakistan through [NGO working in the community] to make this flour available to the whole of Pakistan, particularly to [Area] and more particularly to the [District] (multiple voices) yes.”(Men)
“We are ready to grow it in the fields we have and our own land, or the lands that we have leased.”(A jirga member)
3.2.5. The Importance of Trusted Promoters/Suppliers
“They do say and ask questions that ‘you are giving blood which affects your children later on, and they [the researchers] want indecency in the society, this is from the foreign countries’, so they say this sort of thing.”(A man)
“As far as people are concerned, those who don’t receive it and they are not in this then they do make dramas about this in the neighbourhood and vicinity [saying] this is this thing from the English people, this is that thing of the English people, but we don’t believe it because the flour benefit us.”(A man)
“We know [member of staff] very well … I mean we know all of them so, God willing, they will not do anything wrong to exploit us and God willing they will work for our benefit as long as this programme runs.”(A man)
“Everyone has their own opinion, yeah, and they behave according to that. But this flour didn’t give us any harm, on the contrary it benefited us. Loss and gain is in the hands of Allah but human does something with good intention. They [NGO working with the community] are working with good intention. Allah will give them a reward.”(A man)
“They say good things and also bad things as well, however now they don’t say bad things, they say good things. (A man) Now all of them have become assured about this thing and they say if there is a chance for them to be admitted into.”(Another man)
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A. Topic Guide for Jirga Members
Appendix B. Topic Guide for Community Members
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Mahboob, U.; Ceballos-Rasgado, M.; Moran, V.H.; Joy, E.J.M.; Ohly, H.; Zaman, M.; Lowe, N.M. Community Perceptions of Zinc Biofortified Flour during an Intervention Study in Pakistan. Nutrients 2022, 14, 817. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14040817
Mahboob U, Ceballos-Rasgado M, Moran VH, Joy EJM, Ohly H, Zaman M, Lowe NM. Community Perceptions of Zinc Biofortified Flour during an Intervention Study in Pakistan. Nutrients. 2022; 14(4):817. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14040817
Chicago/Turabian StyleMahboob, Usman, Marena Ceballos-Rasgado, Victoria Hall Moran, Edward J. M. Joy, Heather Ohly, Mukhtiar Zaman, and Nicola M. Lowe. 2022. "Community Perceptions of Zinc Biofortified Flour during an Intervention Study in Pakistan" Nutrients 14, no. 4: 817. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14040817