Current Status of Fruits and Vegetables Production and Consumption in Francophone African Countries - Potential Impact on Health

This paper is a synthetic view of the situation of the production of fruits and vegetables and their availability for local consumption in francophone countries of Africa, in relation with some chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. It is based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and information collected through a survey made in each of the twenty francophone countries of Africa and Indian Ocean. The survey was in preparation of the workshop on "Promotion of fruits and vegetable for health in francophone African countries", held in Yaounde, Cameroon, on 23-26th of October, in the framework of the FAO-WHO initiative. There is a great diversity of situations related to the geographic position, the cultural traditions behaviour and economic situation. Very few countries are reaching the recommended intake of 400g of fruits and vegetables per capita and per day. These are humid-forest countries including Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea, Rwanda, and Burundi, where banana and plantains are the fruits most consumed. On the other side, the situation in Sahelian countries like Burkina-Faso, Chad, Mali, and Mauritania is even worse with an availability below one third of the critical level. A first analysis of data from FAO and WHO is supporting the assumption of a relation between a low consumption of fruits and vegetable and a high prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity in some conditions.