Volume 1

First report / Committee on Nutrition in the Colonial Empire.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Nutrition in the Colonial Empire.
Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First report / Committee on Nutrition in the Colonial Empire. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    317/382 (page 91)
    OI 4. Economics of Diet (relation to local agriculture, cost, tariffs, etc.).—Adverse economic conditions, the poverty of the masses, low wages, unemployment, the over-large family, and the high percentage of illegitimacy (71 per cent. of all births) are the root causes of most of the malnutrition found. The average income of 184,000 or 92 per cent. of the employed population in 1935 fell below 25s. per week, and 147,700 or 7I per cent. received an average of 14s. per week. These are the sums earned by the male wage earner responsible for an average of five persons, but in a large number of cases he shirks his responsi- bility leaving it to the women to bear most of the family burden on an intermittently earned wage of 5s. per week. The difficulty of maintaining families under such circumstances is reflected in the infant mortality. Jamaica, being an agricultural country, depends economically on its export trade in agricultural products. A natural conse- quence of this has been an agricultural policy directed primarily to fostering production of export crops such as the banana, and until recently there has been no conscious attempt to develop such local food supplies as are necessary for a proper dietary. Tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, turnips, etc., are not produced on a large scale, and are mostly sold by the small cultivator, who has little taste for them, to the upper and middle classes. The ques- tion of reduction of import duty on skimmed milk has been con- sidered; but it is thought preferable to approach the problem of increasing milk consumption by concentrating on the develop- ment of the local dairy industry. 5. Researches and Surveys.—An examination of 12,000 school children has been made (see above). It has been sug- gested that inquiry is desirable into the food value of sugar cane, raw sugar and molasses on the grounds that their dietetic value may be greater than that of refined sugar. 6. Practical Measures for Improvement of Nutrition.— Measures by which it is proposed to improve present conditions include the development of animal husbandry with a view to providing an adequate supply of meat. It is also hoped, as part of the scheme for developing animal husbandry, to replace imported condensed milk by a product manufactured locally. Though in itself, however, this will not cause any improvement in nutrition, it should greatly assist in making husbandry remunerative. Improvement of fisheries and intensification of poultry farming are other matters which will receive atten- tion. The possibility of cultivating vegetable products rich in protein will be investigated.