Nutritional Assessment of Some Elderly Farmers in Rural Areas of Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The nutritional status of some elderly Yoruba farmers was carried out to evaluate food consumption pattern and body mass index. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 150 households in Ogun state. The personal characteristic data was collected using a structured household questionnaire. A three day direct weighing method of food intake was used to assess  the  food consumption and nutrient intake. Anthropometrics measures were taken to determine body mass index (BMI). The personal characteristics data indicated that 67% were male and 33% were female.   Fifty two percent of them are in to crop farming twenty seven percent were in poultry and twelve percent were in small ruminant rearing as source of lively hood. The result showed that most of them ate three times a day some skip meals (42%) while some ate fruit daily as habit (56%). The calorie intake per day revealed a range of 501 to 3690kcal /d. The   Body Mass Index (BMI) showed that 35 % of the elderly are on normal nutritional status while 65% were categorized as malnourished. BMI correlates positively with Calorie   intake (r=0, 42; p<0.05) and   education (r= 0.24; p<0.05). On the whole majority of the elderly farmers were taking inadequate food and nutrient especially vitamin A and Protein.