Water Wheel Nov/Dec 2021: Irrigation And Water Quality

Abstract

Drug resistant pathogens – Are we ingesting more than nutrients with our vegetables? Increasingly, people in sub-Saharan Africa have become aware of the nutritional benefits of fresh fruit and veg. In South Africa, its affordability relative to meat and other foodstuffs only adds to the appeal. Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development figures show a growing harvest of almost all the most popular vegetable types. An eye-watering 709 000 tons of onions came to market in 2017/18 compared with 619 000 tons 2013/14. Cabbage was on a roll too – up from 146 000 to 160 000 tons over the same period. And South Africans got sweeter on sweet corn and green mealies, with production rising 28 000 tons to 390 000 tons, also over the five years. But there’s a worm in the public health apple. Fresh vegetables, especially the leafy green kind, often get little in the way of washing or other processing or are eaten raw. This puts consumers at risk of illness or worse from the potential disease-causing bacteria – pathogens – these vegetables may carry.

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