It's really great to learn that some farmers in Laxmipur upazila have been reaping wonderful harvests of soyabean over the past quarter century. It's rather surprising though that ordinary folk here have not yet learnt to add it to their meals.
The military-backed caretaker government had made a big deal about the potato, which has only 1.6 per cent protein, whereas soya has as much as 43.2per cent of it. So it is not only a very profitable crop but also one of the most nutritious, being the best of all vegetable proteins available, according to H K Bakhru, a South Asian expert on Naturopathy.
The government should therefore take up consistent IEC (Information, Education & Communication) programmes to encourage people to include this high value legume in the daily diet to overcome widespread protein-energy malnutrition. The bean is also a good source of fibre, calcium, phosphorus, iron and small amounts of B Complex and E vitamins. The ancient Yogis of the Indus Valley civilization supplemented their meatless diet with soyabean to ward off deficiency in good quality protein.
Fawzia Zebun
Dhanmandi, Dhaka
Let's beat malnutrition with soyabean in the daily diet
FE Team | Published: April 25, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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