Comment by Riaz Haq on April 1, 2020 at 5:28pm

Bamboo farming — a potential source of poverty alleviation

https://www.dawn.com/news/1454188

Bamboo is not only used domestically but it is also exported to other countries and if the government patronises its production and business, it can be a big source of poverty alleviation and strengthening of the economy.

Bamboo used to be cultivated in certain areas and sandy places in the past but now it is cultivated with proper care like other crops to get the maximum possible produce. High quality bamboo is cultivated at more than 85 places in district Narowal, including villages of Thillay Kalan, Wazirpur, Kandhala and Porokey. It is also cultivated in districts of Kasur, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Sargodha.

The bamboo crop is ready within a year while the annual cost of cultivation of one acre of bamboo is just Rs15,000 to Rs20,000. As is the case with sugarcane, bamboo roots are sown in the land at certain distance, the crop is manured only once a year and watered thrice a year. It does not need medicines or chemicals spray and it can bear severe weather conditions.

One acre of bamboo crop is sold at the rate of Rs200,000 to Rs400,000. Three to five thousand bamboos are produced on one acre of land. Labourers are paid Rs17 per bamboo for cutting and cleaning before they are shifted to the factories where bamboos are cut in different sizes and straightened with the help of furnace and machines. Wages are fixed with labourers for straightening and painting the bamboos and the rates range from Rs5 to Rs18 per bamboo. Each labourer can earn Rs1,000 to 3,000 per day. The bamboos are sold to shopkeepers on the wholesale rate of Rs4 to Rs9 per foot while a bamboo ladder of 10 feet is sold in the market at the price ranging from Rs500 to Rs600.


Besides production of ladders, bamboos are used in scaffoldings, construction of buildings, animal shelters and poultry farms. The villagers use bamboos to fix mosquito nets around their cots in the fields. Bamboo furniture is also used in houses for its beauty.

“My 10-member family has been working in the bamboo factory for the last 15 years. Some years ago, there was no business activity and I was living from hand to mouth. Now Pakistan has started exporting bamboo, so I earn Rs1,000 to Rs3,000 per day. Now I am happy and I save some money also,” labourer Muhammad Akram says.

Shaikh Ansar Ali, the owner of a bamboo factory, says the bamboo of Pakistan is of good quality and it is in big demand in the UAE, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries, therefore, it’s produce is increasing day by day.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 6, 2020 at 1:37pm

Agriculture Development
in the Central Asia Regional
Economic Cooperation Program
Member Countries
Review of Trends, Challenges,
and Opportunities
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEArch INSTITuTE
DECEMBER 2019

Food Intake
The average daily per capita calorific intake was estimated at 2,440 kcal in 2013. Figure A.62 displays the
proportion of calorific intake contributed by each of the major food groups. Cereals accounted for 48% of
daily calorific intake in 2013. Calorific intake from animal sources comprised 22%, while fruit and vegetables
accounted for 2%. The average daily per capita protein consumption was estimated at 65.5 grams, while the
average dietary energy supply adequacy was estimated to be 108% in 2015–2017.

https://www.adb.org/publications/trends-agricultural-development-ca...

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 18, 2020 at 4:05pm

Azolla as a fodder for livestock

https://www.technologytimes.pk/2019/05/29/azolla-fodder-livestock/

Azolla is a small plant which can easily grow in Pakistan and require just few inches of standing water for its growth, but the interesting part is that its rich in protein, dry matter, minerals, oils etc. which we needed for our livestock and it also have optimum palatability

Azolla is a genus of seven species of aquatic ferns in the family Salviniaceae. They are extremely reduced in form and specialized, looking nothing like other typical ferns but more resembling duckweed or some mosses. Azolla is a highly productive plant. It doubles its biomass in 3–10 days, depending on conditions, and yield can reach 8–10 tons fresh matter/ha.

Azolla meal contained (%DM) 21.4 crude protein, 12.7 crude fiber, 2.7 ether extract, 16.2 ash and 47.0 carbohydrate. A gross energy value of 2039 kcal kg was obtained. The concentrations of calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium were 1.16%, 1.29%, 1.25% and 0.25% respectively, while those of sodium, manganese, iron, copper and zinc were 23.79ppm, 174.42ppm, 755.73ppm, 16.74ppm and 87.59ppm respectively.

The chemical score index showed the potential of Azolla meal as a good source of protein. Leucine, lysine, arginine and valine were the predominant essential amino acids. To produce Azolla we just need a standing water and sunlight. Asian or typically Pakistan environment is optimum for it. As it can grow on few inches of standing water, we can grow it in slap by slap in open environment just to increase its production per hector.

After harvesting Azolla just dry it in sunlight for 2-3 day as we have very hot environment it can be done in greenhouse or can be done by hot air blower and use in the concentrate or make pellet’s for poultry by adding some other necessary ingredients in it. Azolla can be found in the wild or in some garden and aquatic stores. In several countries Azolla is considered an aquatic weed and its import, possession and distribution are prohibited or discouraged.

In other countries Azolla has disappeared due to indiscriminate use of pesticides and needs to be nurtured as an endangered species. So, we can collect from any wild or aquatic garden and grow in our handmade pounds. Azolla prefers a placid water surface and temperatures around 20-30°C. It will die if it is subjected to prolonged freezing, but it can survive short periods of freezing.

Azolla growth rate is greatly reduced above 35℃ and it dies at temperatures above 45°C. It thrives in plenty of light (though not in direct sunlight) and in water that is rich in all essential plant nutrients. Azolla can grow in a nitrogen-free solution, but the nitrogen concentration level in water does affect growth and nitrogen fixation rates it is especially responsive to phosphorus and requires a continuous supply of this nutrient to maintain rapid growth.

Azolla that is exposed to intense sunlight or heat turns red and grows more slowly. A good location for a Azolla cultivation is in the shadow of a north facing wall or under a tree canopy. If no shadow is available, then shade cloth or mesh can be used to decrease the amount of light falling on the Azolla. Shade cloth can also be used to prevent animals, such as birds, from eating Azolla and polluting the cultivation.

Azolla can grow in layers and form mats that are several centimeters thick. However, Azolla grows best when there are gaps between the plants. It is therefore advisable to harvest Azolla regularly so that plants do not crowd or overlap, and to gently stir the water occasionally so that fronds break and the Azolla multiplies.

After an Azolla cultivation has been seeded it takes some time for the growth to stabilize. Once stabilized, the doubling time of Azolla is 3-5 days if the conditions are good in a 2 square meter cultivation about 250 grams of Azolla can be harvested daily. In a 100 square meter cultivation it is possible to harvest about 10 kg of Azolla daily.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 18, 2020 at 9:01pm

Protein contents of a typical duckweed may be as high as up to 45% of the total dry mass of plants. Due to high protein content, the harvested duckweed is a potential food source for human and animal feeds

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0...

Sustainable management of leachate produced from the dumpsite is one of the major concerns in developing countries Aquatic plants such as duckweed have the potential to remove pollutants from wastewater which can also be cost-effective and feasible options for leachate treatment. Therefore, the objective of our present study was to examine the growth and nutrient removal efficiency of duckweed (Lemna minor) on leachate. Three tests were performed each by growing lemna minor on synthetic leachate under controlled conditions and on dumpsite leachate under natural conditions. During each test, duckweed was grown in 300 ml plastic containers with a surface area of 25.8 cm2. About 60 mg of fresh mass of duckweed was grown on 250 ml leachate at an internal depth of 9.5 cm. Results revealed that, in comparison to synthetic leachate, duckweed removed Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), nitrogen (N), and phosphorous (P) more efficiently from dumpsite leachate under natural climatic conditions. However, the amounts of N and P absorbed into duckweed body mass were about 16% and 35% respectively more at synthetic leachate under controlled conditions. Maximum growth rate of duckweed (7.03 g m-2 day-1) was also observed for synthetic leachate in comparison to the growth rate of 4.87 g m-2 day-1 at dumpsite leachate. Results of this study provide a useful interpretation of duckweed growth and nutrient removal dynamics from leachate under natural and laboratory conditions.

Dumpsite leachate used in this study was prepared by processing the mixed solid waste collected from various residential, commercial and industrial dumpsites in Islamabad, Pakistan. About 100 to 120 kg of well decomposed solid waste was collected from each dumpsite. Waste was collected from pre-determined lowest points at depths of 0.5 m to 1.5 m [28]. Collected wastes were mixed in plastic tank having an internal diameter of about 1.5 m and a height of about 1.8 m. A sieve (pore size 1mm) was fixed at an internal height of 10 cm of the plastic tank. Fig 1 shows the schematic setup used for leachate production.

A mixed culture of duckweed was collected from wastewater treatment pond located in National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. Lemna minor plants were isolated from the mixed duckweed culture and used for this study after acclimatization for about seven days.

Data related to ambient air temperature and day lengths as shown in Table 2 was retrieved from the website of Pakistan Metrological Department, whereas the solar radiation data was obtained from the web site of LEO Corporation, Pakistan.

All experiments during this study were conducted within the premises of Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (IESE), National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan where I am pursuing my doctoral degree (33° 38′ 41″ N, 72° 59′ 22″ E). Experimental site is owned by the IESE, NUST where no permits are required to conduct the research work for IESE students. Furthermore, it is to note that no endangered or protected species or locations were involved during this research study.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 11, 2020 at 4:20pm

Chickens in Pakistan have been feasting on captured locusts under an initiative to combat swarms of the insects that are threatening food supplies in the impoverished country.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/pakistan-turns-locusts-chick...


Prime Minister Imran Khan has endorsed plans to expand a pilot project in the breadbasket province of Punjab, where villagers earned cash by gathering locusts that were then dried out, shredded and added to poultry feed.

Farmers are struggling as the worst locust invasion in 25 years wipes out entire harvests in Pakistan's agricultural heartlands, leaving people scrambling for income.

Muhammad Khurshid from Pakistan's food ministry and biotechnologist Johar Ali set up the programme, drawing on efforts in war-ravaged Yemen, where authorities have encouraged people to eat the protein-rich locusts amid famine.

The pair chose Punjab's Okara district, where farmers had not used any pesticides that would make locusts unsuitable for consumption.

"We first had to learn, and then teach the locals how to catch the locusts. Nets are useless against them," Khurshid told the AFP news agency.

At night, locusts cluster on trees and plants, making them easy to scoop up as they lie motionless in the cooler temperatures until the sun begins to rise.

For a reward of 20 rupees (12 cents) per kilogramme (roughly two pounds) of locusts, locals worked all night to collect them.

One farmer who lost all her crops to the insects said she and her son earned 1,600 rupees ($10) during a single locust-gathering outing, helping to offset the financial damage.

Organisers struggled at first to convince farmers to join the hunt but, by the third night, word had spread, and hundreds joined in - turning up with their own bags to stuff full.

With 20 tonnes of captured locusts, authorities ran out of money to pay the collectors and the programme was paused.

The ministry, which recently announced the results of February's pilot, is now preparing to expand the project to other locations.

The harvested locusts went to Hi-Tech Feeds - Pakistan's largest animal-feed producer - which substituted 10 percent of the soybean in its chicken food with the insects.

"There was no issue with the feed, the locusts have a good potential for use in poultry feed," general manager Muhammad Athar said, after trying the modified product on 500 broiler hens.

Nationwide emergency
While the project is not a solution to the devastation inflicted on crops, it can provide hard-hit farmers with a fresh revenue stream and relieve pressure on authorities struggling to distribute locust-beating pesticides.

Locust swarms have gnawed their way through crops across East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of India this year, and experts fear their numbers will explode as monsoon rains arrive this month.

The crisis is so severe that the government has declared a nationwide emergency and appealed for help from the international community.

Bananas, mangoes, vegetables and other crops are all vulnerable - raising fears of food shortages - as are the wheat and cotton harvests that provide Pakistan with vital revenue.

According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, Pakistan could suffer about $5bn in losses if 25 percent of its crops are damaged.

A reduced harvest could also push prices up and risks worsening food insecurity.

About 20 percent of the population are already undernourished, with almost half of all children under five stunted, according to the World Food Programme.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 24, 2020 at 8:32pm

Asafoetida (Heeng): The smelly spice #India loves but never grew. It's imported from #Afghanistan, #Iran. Known to battle flatulence, it is often recommended in recipes that involve gassy foods such as lentils (daal) or beans. #Ayurveda #Gas https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54617077

Asafoetida, a smelly, acrid spice beloved by Indians, has been used to lace their food for centuries. But it was never cultivated in the region - until now.

Last week, scientists planted about 800 saplings of the plant in Lahaul and Spiti, a cold desert nestled in the Himalayan mountains, exactly two years after India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) imported six varieties of seeds from Iran.

"We are confident it will work," says Dr Ashok Kumar, one of the scientists who painstakingly germinated the seeds in a lab. He says this was necessary because for every 100 seeds, only two sprout. The plant, it turns out, has a vexing habit of going dormant.

"It goes to sleep to adapt to harsh conditions," Dr Kumar says.

Asafoetida, or hing as it's commonly known in India, is a perennial, flowering plant that largely grows in the wild. It thrives in dry soil in temperatures under 35C. So India's tropical plateaus and plains, humid coast and heavy monsoons rule out much of the country for hing farming.

Instead, Indians rely on imports mostly from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - worth more than $100m in 2019 - to get their fix.

This is surprising news for many Indians who would argue that hing is inherently Indian. For many Hindus and Jains, who don't eat onion and garlic because of dietary restrictions, hing's pungency makes it an ideal substitute.

"I use it in all my dals, and I don't cook them with onion or garlic," says Marryam Reshii, food writer and author of The Flavour of Spice. "When you have hing in your food, that tiny whiff of it... it just tastes so, so great!"

Ms Reshii calls herself a "hing lover" - she even put out a detailed thread earlier this week clarifying the origins and uses of her favourite spice.

She says hing's unique smell, a strong, bitter odour, makes it "unlike any other spice".

It even derives its name from that scent - asafoetida in Latin means "fetid gum". The smell is so strong that raw hing, a greyish-white sticky resin collected from the roots, is dried and mixed with flour - wheat in India's north, rice in the south - to turn it into an edible spice. Wholesalers who import hing use tiny amounts of it to make graded variations that sell in the form of blocks, coarse granules or a fine powder.

Although the Persians once called it "the food of the gods", hing is now barely found in cuisines outside of India. In other parts of the world it's either used for medicinal reasons or as an insecticide! But In India, which, by some estimates, accounts for 40% of the world's hing consumption, it's hard to overstate its role in the kitchen.

A dash of it while cumin seeds and red chillies splutter in hot ghee can make an everyday dal sing. Across the country, it seasons delicately spiced soups (shorbas) and fresh relishes (koshambirs) and spikes leafy greens and vegetables tossed in ginger, turmeric and tomatoes. In the north, Kashmiri Hindus stir it in with lamb, red chillies, fennel and dried ginger to make their classic rogan josh and southerners use it to temper their sambars, a variety of steaming lentil stew topped with mustard seeds and curry leaves. It's what sets apart Kolkata's famed hing kachoris (pastries fried to a crisp) and the fluffy idlis (steamed rice cakes) of the temple town of Kanchipuram.


-------------

But he says Kabuli hing is a "hot-selling" item, while Hadda hing, which is "sweeter and smells of oranges" is the least popular.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 24, 2020 at 9:57pm

Meet Hing: The Secret-Weapon Spice Of Indian Cuisine

by Carolyn Beans

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/22/482779599/meet-hing...

The moment my boyfriend — now husband — and I got serious about our future together, my father-in-law got serious about teaching me to cook Indian cuisine. My boyfriend was already skilled in the kitchen. But Dr. Jashwant Sharma wanted extra assurance that the dishes from his native country would always have a place in our home. Plus, as he told me recently, he thought I'd like it.



"We mix four, five, six different spices in a single dish. These create a taste and aroma that you don't get in any other food. People exposed to it usually like it," he said.

Even before our cooking sessions, I knew that cumin and coriander are common ingredients and that turmeric will turn your fingers yellow. Hing, however, was something entirely new to me.

Europeans gave it the decidedly unflattering moniker "devil's dung." Even its more common English name, asafoetida, is derived from the Latin for fetid. Those unaccustomed to it can respond negatively to its strong aroma, a mix of sulfur and onions.


Hing comes from the resin of giant fennel plants that grow wild in Afghanistan and Iran. The resin can be kept pure, but in the States, you mostly find it ground to a powder and mixed with wheat. In The Book of Spice, author John O'Connell describes how Mughals from the Middle East first brought hing to India in the 16th century.

Many Indians use hing to add umami to an array of savory dishes. But for the uninitiated, hing can be a tough sell. Kate O'Donnell, author of The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook, says that she only included hing as an optional spice. "For a Western palette, hing can be shocking," she says

I first encountered hing in one of our early cooking sessions. My father-in-law whipped its well-sealed white plastic bottle out of the cupboard, added a pinch to the pan, and put it back so quickly that I didn't notice the smell. I was most struck by how it bubbled and then dissolved in the hot ghee (clarified butter). And I was a bit skeptical that a pinch of anything could influence a giant pot of lentils liberally seasoned with three other spices.

Later, while experimenting on my own, I got my first full whiff of the spice. To me, the aroma is far from gag-inducing, but it takes a real leap of faith to add it to food. Once you make that leap, magical things happen.

When cooked, hing's pungent odor mellows to a more mild leek- and garlic-like flavor. Some still smell a hint of sulfur, but for many that quality fades entirely. My father-in-law says that hing has a balancing effect on a dish. "It smooths out the aroma of all the other spices and makes them all very pleasant," he says.

Vikram Sunderam, a James Beard Award winner and chef at the Washington, D.C., Indian restaurants Rasika West End and Rasika Penn Quarter, says that he adds hing to lentil or broccoli dishes. But he uses it judiciously.

"Hing is a very interesting spice, but it has to be used in the right quantity," he cautions. "Even a little bit too much overpowers the whole dish, makes it just taste bitter."

Some believe that hing helps with digestion and can ward off flatulence. Perhaps that's why many — including Sunderam — add it to legumes, broccoli and other potentially gas-inducing vegetables.

Some Indians also use it as a substitute for garlic and onions — ingredients discouraged by certain Eastern religions and Ayurvedic medicine.

That substitution makes sense to Gary Takeoka, a food chemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Takeoka studied hing's volatiles — the chemical compounds that produce smells. "A major proportion of hing's volatiles are sulfur compounds," he explains. "Some of these are similar to the ones found in onions and garlic."

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 25, 2021 at 1:29pm

With 1.32 billion birds, #Pakistan has the world's 5th largest #poultry population. #meat #eggs #protein https://www.statista.com/statistics/263961/top-countries-worldwide-...

https://twitter.com/haqsmusings/status/1408522023186227202?s=20

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 10, 2021 at 9:54am

Pulses: More than just a meat alternative
Beans, peas and lentils are often overlooked when it comes to food staples. In a world where the devastating environmental impact of mass meat production is becoming increasingly clear, could pulses provide a solution?

https://www.dw.com/en/pulses-more-than-just-a-meat-alternative/a-56...

Pulses, a broad category of edible seeds that includes pantry staples like lentils, beans, peas and chickpeas, are one of the world's most important food crops.

This underrated legume has featured heavily in diets around the world for thousands of years. Pulses are the main source of protein for people who don't eat meat — whether by choice or by circumstance — they're good for the environment, nutritious and tasty.

In recent years, the United Nations has recognized their global significance and declared February 10 as World Pulses Day. Read on to learn more about this humble superfood.

Environmentally friendly meat alternative
Changing our diet, and how we produce what we eat, can have a huge and positive impact on the planet.

A recent key report on food and biodiversity loss linked global eating habits to around 30% of human-made emissions in terms of energy and fertilizer, making them a "key driver of climate change." It also highlighted the devastating impact of our food production on nature.

A big part of the problem is meat and other animal products. Though it might be a good source of protein, meat is terrible for the environment. Getting a kilogram of beef to your kitchen emits as much as 60 kilograms (130 pounds) of CO2-equivalent, according to a 2018 study published in Science. And with the world population set to surpass 10 billion in a little over 30 years, increasing demand for food — especially meat and monocrops like wheat, corn and soybeans — will further stress the climate, limited natural resources and biodiversity.

Pulses like peas and lentils, however, produce some 0.9 kg of CO2-equivalent for every kilo grown. And they provide a far higher protein yield per square kilometer than a herd of cattle or flock of chickens, meaning existing farmland can be used more efficiently and untouched forests can be spared.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted pulses as "a good alternative to meat," pointing out that they "can play a key role in future healthy and sustainable diets." In recent years, calls from environmental groups for people in the Western world to drastically reduce their meat consumption, has inspired a growing trend toward vegetarian and vegan diets.

In a September analysis, climate data provider Carbon Brief said "a global switch to veganism would deliver the largest emissions savings out of any dietary shift," preventing some 8 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions annually by 2050. Current food production is responsible for around 13.7 billion tons per year.

"It is now becoming clear that a plant-based diet is not just a crock," said Christina Ledermann, head of the German advocacy group Humans for Animal Rights. "The future of nutrition is plant-based, or there is no future."

Comment by Riaz Haq on January 28, 2022 at 7:33am

Commercial production of kidney beans to start soon in Pakistan


https://www.dawn.com/news/1670834

ISLAMABAD: The first-ever production of kidney bean varieties at commercial level will commence soon as the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (Parc) will release six new varieties of common bean varieties in the country.

According to a Parc report made available to Dawn on Friday, the achievement is part of the promotion of common bean cultivation in Pakistan under the five-year project for the promotion of research for productivity enhancement in pulses launched in 2019. The project has been funded by the Public Sector Development Programme with an amount of Rs1,437 million.

The report says shuttle multiplication has been proposed for the promotion of kidney beans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the spring season and upper regions in the kharif season.

Scientists engaged in the pulse project say Pakistan has become self-sufficient in moong bean as its production was recorded at 267,000 tonnes against the national requirement of 180,000 tonnes.

The major focus of the project is to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses production by increasing the yield of major pulse crops, including chickpea, lentil, moong, mash and kidney beans, by 30 per cent.

Under the umbrella project, till now 3,792 lines have been tested throughout the country in 25 different locations through national uniform yield trials to evaluate and select promising lines for varieties development.

As the country was facing acute shortage of quality seed of pulses, basic and pre-basic seed production has been carried out on about 1,107 acres through which 6,553 tonnes of seed has been produced and distributed among the farmers.

Parc officials say availability of quality seed of improved cultivars is the prime contributing factor towards achieving self-sufficiency in pulses. To ensure this, varietal trials have been conducted in different agro-climatic zones of the country and the seed of identified best varieties was distributed among the farmers.

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