The cultivation of eggplant, popularly known in Nigeria as garden egg, is gradually becoming more interesting and lucrative because the population of its consumers continues to grow. Growers of garden egg now believe it can largely be done for economic purposes unlike before when it was largely cultivated for domestic consumption. This crop is widely cultivated in Nigeria, a country located in the West of Africa with abundant biodiversity.
The garden egg, specifically Solanum aethiopicum, is an economically important crop and one of the leading fruit and leafy vegetables in the farming systems of southeastern Nigeria. In Nigeria, garden eggs are grown for the nutritional, medicinal, and economic values of the leaves and fruits. The garden egg could be said to be the third most consumed fruity vegetable in Nigeria and Ghana, after pepper and tomatoes.
They are an integral part of the dish during festivities such as weddings, funerals, and other functions. The garden egg fruits are edible, varying in size and shape from spherical to oval shapes. The fruits are also available in different colors, including white, green, yellow, red, purple, and mixed. The morphology and pigmentation of the eggplant fruit are contingent on the specific species.
Garden egg is a type of eggplant that is used as a food crop in several countries in Africa. It is a small, white fruit with a teardrop or roundish shape that is valued for its bitterness. Garden egg is an important crop in several African countries and is indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, garden egg is one of the three most consumed vegetables, along with tomatoes and peppers.
The brightly colored fruits known as garden eggs are a significant vegetable resource almost Africawide. The crop is high yielding, easy to grow, and simple to harvest and handle. It is integral to many cuisines, cultures, and economies.
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Throughout Africa local garden eggs are very popular and play an important part in many diets. They have a long storage life (up to three months) and transport well. They are also often dried for use later in the agricultural cycle when fresh foods are unavailable. They (as well as the leaves of some cultivars) provide a reliable and continuing source of income for millions of farmers, most of them women.
The plants are notable for yielding a lot from a little space. They can produce a profit from the tiniest plots; even a few plants grown in garden pots can provide a worthwhile harvest.
The plants, for example, are very adaptable and can be grown in widely different climates. They are fast maturing and yet can be harvested over a period of time, so they yield both quick results and extended ones. They could notably benefit soil conservation activities, especially when used to quickly cover bare soil in the spaces between the farm’s main crops.
Complete Garden Egg Farming Tutorial in Africa | Beginners to Experts
Because of their partiality for small spaces, this is a crop for city gardens squeezed in among the structures of modern life: high-rise buildings, factories, shanties, roads, train tracks, and chain-link fences. This is already apparent in African cities.
To sum up: The local garden eggs are significant vegetable resources almost Africawide. They are good for nutrition, rural income, and soils. They are high yielding, easy to grow, and simple to harvest and handle. They are vital to local cuisines, local economies, and local cultures. They have untapped potential waiting to be brought out by research.
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Grown in Nigeria for both the leaves and the fruit, this 3-4 foot tall bush produces 1 inch wide round fruits that are eaten green, and that turn a fiery orange when the seeds are ripe. Garden egg leaves are filled with vitamins and minerals and are considered a healing food.
Farmers, small businesses get CBN’s interest free loans Reps seek relocation of oil tank farms as NNPC seeks timeMany believe garden egg got its name from its egg-shape, as well as the white complexion associated with some of the varieties. Some people eat the fruit raw, some with groundnuts, while some eat it cooked as sauce eaten with other foods.
In any case, medically, garden egg, especially the green variety, is said to contain chlorophyll, which is liver-friendly, and contains alkaline, which is good for ulcer patients.
Like their famous Asian cousin, these vegetables seem at first sight to be hardly worth attention. They are mild in flavor and not especially nutritious. Clearly, though, this country cousin of a booming global resource should not be left languishing in the scientific wilderness. Because it remains largely unsupported by research, it nowadays falls far short of its potential.
Given attention, they say, Africa’s own eggplant could achieve a very big future. This is also true of the best-known eggplant, which similarly discolors upon contact with the air.
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How to Cultivate Garden Egg
A garden egg farmer, Edward Yaro, advised that farmers should first clear land of grasses and debris, and that loamy soil remained the best for garden egg. Yaro further advised that the land should not be tilled lower than 20 to 25cm.
- Nursery: Seeds are sown in nursery beds either by broadcasting seeds or drilling method.
- Acclimatization: Hardening off the seedlings at three weeks helps the seedlings adapt to environmental changes.
- Transplanting: The seedlings are transplanted into the field at 4- 6 weeks. In the field, a planting distance of 90cm apart within rows and 75cm between rows should be observed.
- Fertilizer application: The first fertilizer application is done two weeks after transplanting. Organic or inorganic fertilizers can be applied.
- Flowering: The Nigerian Garden egg begins to flower at six weeks after transplanting. Foliar application of phosphate-based fertilizer is done at this stage.
- Fruits: The garden egg fruits develop from the flowers.
He said, “You can plant it by raising a nursery or you can even plant it directly. You should plant it early in the morning or late in the evening.” The farmer explained that for direct planting, two seeds should be planted per hole, and that on the ridges, 60cm between the plants must be given.
Depending on the variety, Yaro said flowering/fruiting starts from six to eight weeks of planting and would continue to develop till about 10 to 12 weeks when it would be due for harvest. He advised farmers to weed their garden egg farm regularly and must add enough manure for higher yield.
According to him, bacteria wilt and fruit rot are the major problems for garden egg, but that they could be controlled by removing the affected fruits or spraying the plant with chemicals.
These are heat-loving and seeds should be started indoors about 1/8-1/4 inches deep, about 8 weeks before the last frost. Transplant into garden well after the danger of frost. The growing characteristics are similar to most eggplants. The plants reach about 4-5 feet tall and should be planted 12 inches apart. They need full sun and fertile soil. Staking helps as the plants become heavy.
The eggplants begin green, but should be picked when they are about 2 inches wide and green. They must be picked regularly to keep production and ensure they don't over ripen.
Eggplants are generally self-pollinating, though we isolate different varieties of the same species by at least 300 feet, in hopes that flying insects will not cross pollinate them unexpectedly.
Eggplant seeds are ripe when the fruits get far past their edible stage, and have turned another color, in this case orange/red. Cut the fruit, scrape out seeds (perhaps through a heavy-duty screen) into a vessel, add a little water (1-2 inches is probably plenty) to your seeds and pulp to keep them from drying out, and allow them to ferment away from direct sunlight.
Alternatively, if you have lots of ripe fruits, stomp them in a bucket! Fermentation is not necessary with eggplants, but it makes seed cleaning a bit easier. Ideally, you will stir the concoction every day for 3-5 days. In the end, add more water to fill the vessel, stir one final time, and allow to settle. Pour off the floating material and then strain the seeds through a strainer. Sometimes, you will need to add more water and pour off the floating material several times until the water is clear and you can see the seeds sunken at the bottom.
The perfect eggplant is picked while still immature-about 70-90 days after sowing. At that point the skin is glossy and firm, the flesh white, and the seeds tender and fully edible. It is best to use a knife or pruning shears to cut the fruits from the plants. Harvesting continues over a period of 8-10 weeks.
The production of leaves usually involves different horticultural techniques. In this case, the plants are severely cut back to a height of not less than 5 cm after which a massive growth of young shoots occurs. Regular harvesting of the young shoots and debudding encourages the production of side shoots that extend the harvesting period.
The post-harvest handling of the fruits has not been thoroughly evaluated, but the only unusual challenge noted is a rapid browning of the skin after harvesting.
This pest of garden eggplant results in early wilting and loss of plants. Other insect pests that attack garden eggplants include stem borers and fruit borers. The impact of these pests in a garden egg farm can be seen in the low yield and quality of fruits.
The plants branch profusely, a feature making weeding difficult. It is attacked by a fungal leaf spot and by several insect pests, including leaf beetle, moth larvae, bud borer, and sucking bugs.
The very thought of growing African eggplant is likely to raise hackles in some quarters. Its flowers betray its relationship to a notorious weed that adversely affects some of the world’s main crops-the small, bell-shaped, purple bloom is utterly nightshade. Indeed, the whole plant looks like the black nightshade, Solanum nigrum. For this reason, it will be difficult to promote it as crop plant in, for example, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Britain, or Israel.
Why You Should Grow Garden Egg
Mr. John Idako, a garden egg farmer in Garam, a Niger State community, said a rural family could live on garden egg cultivation because the fruit was easy to plant and that it took a short period to mature.
Idako said one could continue to harvest garden egg for more than four months and that both the fruit and the leaf could be sold. The farmer said market for garden egg could now be found in all fruit markets across the country, adding that many more people now ate it.
He noted that unlike other fruits, garden egg does not get spoilt easily and that because it was usually within the reach of the common man, its market was booming.
Throughout Africa local garden eggs provide a continuing source of income for farmers. In rural districts from Senegal to Mozambique women are commonly seen hefting baskets of them on their heads to sell in nearby villages or townships. Yet these vegetables have untapped commercial promise and could become the cornerstone of localized rural economic development.
In this neglected vegetable there is a whole new world of colors, textures, flavors, and culinary uses to explore and exploit. Why should Africa invest time and effort on these crops? Beyond the reasons referred to above lie further justifications.
Nutritional Value and Uses
These fruits are far from nutritional powerhouses-they contain 92 percent water, after all. Nonetheless, they also contain small amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals, and starch. They are moderate sources of beta-carotene, B vitamins, and C. By the standards of the modern Western world, this veggie is a diet-doctor’s dream: low in sodium, low in calories, high in dietary fiber, and a good source of potassium.
The leaves are excellent sources of vitamins A and B (particularly riboflavin), calcium, phosphorus, and iron.
Fruits Typically in Africa, the garden egg is chopped, cooked and mixed into a variety of vegetable, meat, or fish stews and sauces. Although bitter taste is a major characteristic, many African eggplants are sweet or bland, especially in the immature stages in which they are eaten.
The unripe fruits are usually cooked in a sauce after being chopped, parboiled, ground, or otherwise prepared. Peeling is unnecessary because the skin becomes tender enough to be consumed along with the rest.
Africans eat the leaves of at least certain types of the Gilo Group eggplants.
This crop is mostly grown on a small scale in compound gardens. Propagation is by seed, which can be broadcast or drilled directly into well-prepared ground. Typically, however, the seeds are first sown in boxes or nursery beds. Germination takes about a week. After a month, when seedlings are 5-10 cm high, they are transplanted into the garden beds.
For fruit production, plants of the Gilo Group are typically spaced 1 to 1.5 m apart. In this regard, it is notable that when the common purple eggplant first arrived in the United States it was grown for its beauty. That was in 1806 when Thomas Jefferson planted it at his home in Monticello.
This is among the most appealing vegetables the eye can see. Few others boast such rich colors. Among Africa’s overall eggplant diversity it is possible to find fruits in white, cream, yellow, green, lime, orange, pink, red, plum, burgundy, lavender, violet, purple, or dusky black. Many come striped and multi-colored. And all possess a glossy skin that tends to shimmer in the sunlight.
Beyond being egg-shaped, they can be also round, flat, ribbed, and pumpkin-like. Some get to be as imposing as beefy tomatoes; in general, though, they closely emulate chicken or duck eggs in size.
In English, fruits of this so-called Gilo Group go by names such as scarlet eggplant, mock tomato, garden egg, garden huckleberry, or gilo. They are the most widespread eggplants cultivated in Africa, and can be found from southern Senegal to Nigeria, from Central Africa across to eastern Africa, and from Central Africa south to Angola, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
Many gilo cultivars have fruits that are delicious raw-both when immature and fully ripe. They can be chewed, sliced, or pureed into juice and eaten fresh like tomatoes. Depending on type, some are sweet, others bitter (a feature many Africans prefer in a vegetable).
Despite international obscurity, this is a resource of considerable economic importance. Throughout Africa local garden eggs are very popular and play an important part in many diets.
They also have notable market potential and could become the cornerstone of localized rural economic development.
The authors found that the leafy vegetables being most commonly cultivated in Dar es Salaam were: leaf amaranths, sweet potato leaves, pumpkin leaves, cassava leaves, cowpea leaves, Swiss chard, chinese cabbage, African kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala), and nightshade (Solanum scabrum).
The plants are very adaptable and can be grown in widely different climates. They are fast maturing and yet can be harvested over a period of time, so they yield both quick results and extended ones.
They could notably benefit soil conservation activities, especially when used to quickly cover bare soil in the spaces between the farm’s main crops.
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