A Review on Wild Indigenous Eggplant, Terung Asam Sarawak (Solanum lasiocarpum Dunal.)

Terung Asam Sarawak (Solanum lasiocarpum Dunal.), also known as terung Dayak or sour eggplant is one of the largest indigenous crops in Sarawak. It has slowly gained a significant commercial importance in Malaysia especially East Malaysia. There have been several studies on Terung Asam Sarawak in the last few decades but mainly focus on plant vernacular and morphology with only some studies focusing on the fruits. The agronomic practices of the plant until fruit postharvest handling have not been comprehensively studied. The information on Terung Asam Sarawak scatters in diverse sources, either local or regional sources, and in several languages too. Therefore, this review attempts to compile these all literature and outline every important finding (from plant origin to planting, fruit postharvest handling, uses and many more) about Terung Asam Sarawak in order to pinpoint the gaps of knowledge. It is hope that this review could assist researchers to focus on the gaps that will help to establish this indigenous eggplant as an important commercial vegetable in tropical countries.

A Stepwise Analysis of Production Returns and Cost Distribution for Chinese Cabbage Produced Under Irrigation in South Africa

Cultivation of indigenous crops for food and nutritional security has emerged as a topic of interest in South Africa. Commercial cultivation of indigenous crops is promoted especially among smallholder farmers because of their nutritional value and their ability to adapt to marginal soil and climatic conditions. Support for commercial production of specific crops among farmers necessitates the need for optimum use of inputs in production. In order to evaluate optimum input use in production, this study established the profitability and production costs of one of the indigenised leafy vegetables in South Africa, Chinese cabbage, using gross margin analysis. Production costs and profitability evaluations are fundamental tools for analysing cash flow and investment options. The study was based on field trials on different levels of fertilizer (NPK application). The results of the study show that at low production level (10.1 t ha-1), gross income is less than total variable costs (TVC), resulting in a negative gross margin. A movement from low production to medium production (26.1 t ha-1) results in an increase in gross margin, from -R16,664.19 to R29,091.99. The highest gross margin of R82,807.07 is obtained at high production level (44.5 t ha-1). The study supports an interdisciplinary evaluation approach (agronomy and economics) when analysing field trials.

Identifying Potential Markets for African Leafy Vegetables: Case Study of Farming Households in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Indigenous crops, through their high nutritional value and hardy attributes, offer potential trade opportunities for rural farmers. There is a niche market that can be explored for these indigenous crops particularly with the growing demand for high nutritional value food in the country. These crops are mostly produced by rural households or gathered from the wild by rural farmers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify potential markets for African leafy vegetables (ALVs) by farmers in Limpopo Province. Sixty households producing ALVs were selected with the composition of 54 women and six men, with this selection done using a purposive sampling procedure. Of the total production, 50–60% of the produce was sold in the informal market. It was evident that local rural markets constituted a greater portion of the total market at 73% and 20% allocated to hawkers in town. As a result, urban and periurban consumers present potential buyers since these areas are populated with the middle-class population which is susceptible to changing consumption trends. Because of this potential, supermarkets and township hawkers are proposed as the potential channel for ALVs targeting the identified population. Thus, it is suggested that, in order to create a synergy between economic improvement of rural farmers and trending consumer demands, the Department of Agriculture in Limpopo Province creates a conducive environment through which ALV farmers can be connected with supermarkets and township marketers.

The impact of the Green Revolution on indigenous crops of India

The Green Revolution in India was initiated in the 1960s by introducing high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat to increase food production in order to alleviate hunger and poverty. Post-Green Revolution, the production of wheat and rice doubled due to initiatives of the government, but the production of other food crops such as indigenous rice varieties and millets declined. This led to the loss of distinct indigenous crops from cultivation and also caused extinction. This review deals with the impacts the Green Revolution had on the production of indigenous crops, its effects on society, environment, nutrition intake, and per capita availability of foods, and also the methods that can be implemented to revive the indigenous crops back into cultivation and carry the knowledge to the future generation forward.