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SOWING
THE
SEEDS OF HOPE
by
Donald D. Schroeder
A bold and real step to teach the hungry world to produce its own food!
M
AYBE YOU
haven't
h ea rd a b out t h e
winged bean.
You should
have!
" l t's a veritable backyard super–
market," exults a staff director of
the U.S. NationaJ Academy of
Sciences. From top to bottom, it is
almost all edible.
We know. Some
Plain Truth
staff members have enjoyed eating
winged beans while assisting in
expandi ng agricultura! develop–
ment in the Third World.
The pods make a succu-
lent green vegetable that
can be eaten almost every
possible way. The
leaves taste like
spinach, the
shoots are like
asparagus and
one can eat the
flowers and tubers too. T he
seeds of the wi nged bean–
called that because of the
four winglike flanges on its
pod-<::an be steamed or
boiled.
Why
Neg l ected
The wi nged bean has been
neglected for development in many
t ropical areas because it has often
been considered a peasant or poor
man's food. Now, when fertilizer
costs to boost yields soar prohibi–
tively, these altitudes are chang–
ing.
As a legume, the winged bean
converts its own nit rogen from the
air.
It
needs little or no fertilizer
and even enríches the soíl in which
it g rows. Unwanted parts of the
plant can be fed to livestock.
lt
is a
April 1983
st urdy, high-
ly disease resistant
vine that does not require great
attention. And it grows well in
rainy, tropical areas, as well as
being able to survive droughts.
Exper imental wi nged-bean
plantings are now under way in
around 60 countries. The National
Academy of Sciences says of the
future, "The winged bean appears
to have great potential for easing
the problem of proteín malnutrition
throughout the humid tropics."
T he challenge is not, however, in
growing the winged bean among
needy populaces, but in getting
peoplc to change their eating hab–
its to acccpt it.
So now, let 's look
at one remarkable and proven suc–
cess story- in Zaire, the former
Belgian Congo.
l t is occurring in the lturi forest
among the Efé Pygmies. One
would have thought a majar devel–
opment in winged-bean agriculture
should have started among taller
people with a tradition of agricul–
ture. But then, valuable contribu-
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