Wednesday 28 July 2010

Article 47: Season of Leafy Green Vegetables




By S. Olanrewaju Disu

The rains are here!Lagos State and the rest of southern Nigeria are in raining season, everywhere is wet. Therefore , let us digress into reporting of the arrival of leafy, green, farmfresh vegetables that come with rains.

Lagos State is a coastal region lying along the Atlantic Ocean. Hence it supports vegetable cultivation very naturally. However, during the hot, dry season, agricultural activites (especially horticulture) usually reduce considerably. Irrigation is almost non-existent compared with the northern parts of the country. We have exception in few areas of the State where "pockets" of irrigated land encourage vegetable growing year round. But these are grossly inadequate to feed the teeming population of the State.

During the dry season, vegetables are expensive because they are not in abundance. The arrival of the rains therefore turn things around. Rain water is very valuable indeed!It encourages agricultural activities tremendously, this is very true with regards to arable farming and horticulture.

Most markets nowadays are over flowing with vegetables. Farms in the hinterland are also enjoying bumper harvests of vegetables because of the rains. As usual, these farms transport their tons of vegetables into lagos area markets on a daily basis. In addition, weekly farmers' markets make brisk business selling farm fresh vegetables and other related items like freshly harvested corn and okra to happy vegetable consumers.

Needless to emphasize these green leafy vegetables are medicinally important too. They are of great nutritional value. They help us in boosting and balancing our diets. Experts tell us often that eating plenty of vegetables (and fruits too)can help ward off heart disease, stroke, control blood pressure, prevent some types of cancer, avoid painful intestinal ailments and guard against vision degeneration. nature is kind to us all round!


The next articles shall be about different vegetables in our markets

(A) Farm Fresh vegetables at the "Orisumbare" weekly market

(B)Fresh Vegetable at Ejigbo Market








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