A moringa oleifera farmer in Makueni. According to research, moringa leaves have 25 times more iron than spinach, 10 times more vitamin A than carrots, seven times more vitamin C than oranges and 17 times more calcium than milk. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Its main commercial value is food and medicine. Indeed, it is described as the most nutritious terrestrial plant in the world.
It needs altitudes ranging from 0 to 2,000 metres above sea level and annual rains from less than 400mm to more than 1,400mm.
It works with the Kenya Forest Service, which provides extension services, and Kefri, which supplies seeds and seedlings.
They are ground into a paste that is then poured into untreated water and given time to trap the impurities before settling at the bottom.
I have first-hand experience growing all the trees I have written about in this column. So when Ndunda Makanga, an agronomist from Makueni and an ardent reader of the column, asked me to write about moringa oleifera a few weeks ago, I took the challenge.
I researched more on the tree and learnt a lot and I wonder why I have never planted it. Simply known as moringa, this tree is native to the foothills of the Himalayan mountains in northern India.
