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  1. Key Resource 2018-05-17 Many plants deemed as invaluable for the smallholder farmer offer nutritious food for the family, fodder for animals, or timber for construction. Remarkably, bamboo offers all three of these assets from the same perennial plant! This Technical Note will focus on how to most effectively harvest,...
  2. A lima bean variety that originated in Central Americabut has been bred in parts of East Africa and South Africa and is commonly used as a cover crop. If grown along the ground, it produces a 60 cm high mat of foliage that smothers weeds. It can also be trellised for easier seed harvest. The...
  3. Radishes are an annual herb with cylindrical roots up to 65 cm long or round roots up to 8 cm in diameter. They are grown for their slightly spicy roots.
  4. Vigna subterranea is an annual, herbaceousnitrogen-fixing legume of particular importance throughout semi-arid Africa. Leaves are trifoliate and are borne along creeping stems that extend along the ground surface. Flowers are yellow and butterfly-shaped, similar to other legumes. Upon...
  5. The tomato is one of the most common garden vegetables worldwide. It is a solanaceous plant that produces fruit of various shapes, sizes and colors. Growth of tomato plants is described as either determinate or indeterminate. Determinate varieties produce compact plants that stop growing when...
  6. Capsicum chinense or bonnet peppers are typically very hot including the hottest peppers in the world according to the Scoville scale. These include the habanero, ghost peppers, and bonnet peppers. ECHO also has a unique “Sweet” Habanero that produces peppers that are not hot, although...
  7. Capsicum frutescens peppers are much more pungent than the C. annuum species and produce fruits that are erect and usually appear just above the foliage. Peppers include tabasco, bird peppers, and other chili peppers. Varieties of this species have also been selected for their ornamental...
  8. Eggplant is a popular solanaceous garden vegetable grown for its edible fruit. There are many varieties of this strong upright plant. Some produce fruits that are long and thin, some produce round fruits, and others large bell shaped fruit. The varieties range in color from white to purple to...
  9. Onion is a hardy biennial from southern parts of Russia and Iran. It was disseminated by the Indo-European peoples during their numerous migrations. Very ancient forms of Onion are still for sale in Middle Eastern markets.
  10. Vigna unguiculata is a grain legume that originates in Africa. Attributes such as vine shape (climbing, prostrate, or semi-erect), seed color (shades of white, pink, brown, and black), and seed maturation time (60 to 240 days) vary with variety. Pods appear in V-shaped pairs.It is an important...