This book is about the food consumption practises of the citizen of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. It gives the information about how the food is affecting their health. It also gives the information about the lifestyle which they follow, and giving information about whether such lifestyles are having ill effects on the people or not. It also explains us on the disease occurring in them due to food consumption practices.

Indian tribal world is unique and least explored. There are 74 tribal groups which are identified as Primitive Tribal Groups, and Baiga is one of them. This book provides deep insight into the various socio-cultural aspects of the Baiga, a primitive tribe of Central India. Taking a close look at their history and population characteristics, it discusses at length their habitat, settlement patterns, dress and ornaments, material culture, livelihood practices, cultivation, means of transport and communication, and religious practices. The issue of tribal rights on forest and wild life conservation has also been addressed.

The world is living dangerously - either because it has little choice or because it is making the wrong choices -- Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland WHO Director-General

Recent decades have witnessed increased interest in the foods of Africa, spurred on by the recurrent famines that have plagued the continent. It is now recognized that helping people to use their own knowledge of indigenous foods and agriculture provides better prospects for long-term sustainability than imposing solutions from outside. Yet to date there has been little documented information about the foods that are utilized by the poor of Africa, and particularly how these foods are preserved in a hostile environment for later use. This book is a unique compilation of both the general literature on Africa's fermented foods and beverages and of original research conducted by the author in Sudan. Information was gathered from elderly rural women who traditionally hand down such knowledge from generation to generation. With increased urbanization and dislocation of family structures, there is a danger that such knowledge might otherwise be lost forever. The various foods are considered in terms of their role in the struggle for survival and in the social fabric of rural Sudan, as well as from the perspectives of nutrition and food microbiology. The book is a major contribution to this literature, of interest to all concerned with food science, human nutrition and rural development.

This book is designed to raise awareness of the use of wild plants in farming systems around the world. It describes the contribution of wild plants as a source of food, fuel wood, shelter, medicines and dyes, and their role in income generation for the improved welfare of farm households and local people. Wild plants are also of paramount importance as sources of wild germplasm that might enhance the productivity, disease resistance, winter hardiness, drought survival of cultured species. This publication analyses the potential of wild species, as well as the natural, social, economic, legal and institutional factors that constrain their use and development potential.

The silent scourge of undernutrition and major nutritional deficiencies of public health importance persists across India despite decades of planned programmes and interventions. The maternal and child undernutrition scenario in India represents a complex set of determinants, including poverty, lack of knowledge, and access. Other factors that confound this dangerous interplay of barriers are erosion of conventional food consumption patterns exacerbated by poor hygienic practices, diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea, and lack of access to safe water and sanitation.

This book provides detailed information on the various ethnic fermented foods and beverages of India. India is home to a diverse food culture comprising fermented and non-fermented ethnic foods and alcoholic beverages. More than 350 different types of familiar, less-familiar and rare ethnic fermented foods and alcoholic beverages are traditionally prepared by the country’s diverse ethnic groups, and include alcoholic, milk, vegetable, bamboo, legume, meat, fish, and cereal based beverages. Most of the Indian ethnic fermented foods are naturally fermented, whereas the majority of the alcoholic beverages have been prepared using dry starter culture and the ‘back-sloping’ method for the past 6,000 years. A broad range of culturable and unculturable microbiomes and mycobiomes are associated with the fermentation and production of ethnic foods and alcoholic drinks in India. The book begins with detailed chapters on various aspects including food habits, dietary culture, and the history, microbiology and health benefits of fermented Indian food and beverages. Subsequent chapters describe unique and region-specific ethnic fermented foods and beverages from all 28 states and 9 union territories. In turn the classification of various ethnic fermented foods and beverages, their traditional methods of preparation, culinary practices and mode of consumption, socio-economy, ethnic values, microbiology, food safety, nutritional value, and process optimization in some foods are discussed in details with original pictures. In closing, the book addresses the medicinal properties of the fermented food products and their health benefits, together with corresponding safety regulations.

This volume contains a solid body of the current state of knowledge on the various themes and activities in agroforestry worldwide. It is organized into three sections: the Introduction section consists of the summaries of six keynote speeches at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009; that is followed by two sections of peer-reviewed thematic chapters grouped as “Global Perspectives” (seven chapters) and “Regional Perspectives” (eleven chapters), authored by professional leaders in their respective agroforestry-related fields worldwide. A total of 130 professionals from institutions in 33 countries in both developing and the industrialized temperate regions of the world contributed to the book as chapter authors and/or reviewers. Thus, the book presents a comprehensive and authoritative account of the global picture of agroforestry today.

At the 2013 Nutrition for Growth Summit in London, 96 signatories (governments, civil society organizations, donors, United Nations’ agencies, and businesses) agreed to support the creation of an annual report on global nutrition that would be authored by an independent expert group, in partnership with a large number of contributors. The first edition of this report, the Global Nutrition Report 2014, puts a spotlight on worldwide progress by the 193 member countries of the United Nations in improving their nutrition status, identifies bottlenecks to change, highlights opportunities for action, and contributes to strengthened nutrition accountability on country and global levels.

Tropical dry forests (TDFs) constitute one of the most dominant forests, accounting for approximately 45% of all tropical forests. These forests are distributed over an extensive geographical range, spanning large areas of Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific. TDFs occur in severe and extremely variable climate characterized by low annual rainfall and 5-6 months of the dry period within the annual cycle, and nutrient-poor soil. Due to extreme drought conditions, TDFs exhibit deciduousness and various other adaptative features (viz., fire resistance, desiccation tolerance, herbivore defence, high root:shoot ratio, longer seed viability) to establish in the severe environmental conditions, which makes these forests exceptionally critical. These forests are one of the most productive with high biodiversity, but unfortunately, due to persistent anthropogenic pressures in terms of burning, mining, indiscriminate forest cutting, lopping, and increased extraction of non-wood forest products, these forest communities have become one of the most endangered ecosystems. Disturbances in TDFs have resulted in fragmentation and ecosystem conversion, and therefore, these forests exhibit changes in their biomass and productivity. Anthropogenic pressure is rapidly becoming a growing concern globally due to its negative impacts on the structure and composition of the vegetation. In addition, due to their higher net primary productivity, these forests have a considerable effect on the global carbon cycle. Uncontrolled harvesting for gaining temporal benefits is a major cause of forest destruction and deforestation which may lead to major loss. Deforestation and clearing of forests have resulted in soil erosion, soil degradation and loss of biodiversity, socio-economic damages to food components, water and health, as well as the loss of people's cultural ethnicity. In order to assess the conservation status of TDFs, information is required on its distribution pattern, climate, structural and functional traits of the vegetation, phenology, strategies against drought, nutrient deficiency, and disturbances. This book discusses various issues, obstacles and opportunities for protection, regeneration and management of TDFs worldwide, as well as information gaps in the areas referred to above, which may be of critical significance in adapting and mitigating responses to the current climate change scenario. The book is intended to help in collection of detailed knowledge and to address the concerns from environmental scientists, forestry experts, planners, policymakers and the general public. Starting with a description of plant composition of worldwide TDFs, the book evaluates plant diversity, biomass dynamics, carbon storage, late history and current status of anthropogenic disturbances, distribution pattern of lichen communities, relevance of tree crown architecture, effects of forestry management practices, degradation and traditional land-use practices, impact of changing environment on carbon dynamics, estimating ecosystem services using a geospatial approach, productivity and carbon accumulation, habitat heterogeneity and its impact on organic matter, nutrient pool and nitrogen mineralization, phosphorus and litter decomposability traits. For re-development of TDFs, the book describes improved low-input tree establishment methods, impact of drought and plant mechanisms to mitigate drought stress, importance of serotiny related to delayed seed dispersal, and foraging efficiency of fine roots in relation to carbon dynamics in a changing environment.