I originally posted the piece below on my blog Redeye Taxi back on August 20 of this year. It needs to be put out again in my opinion in light of the continuing and deepening food crisis in Venezuela (and the whole world, for that matter. ) When I was in Venezuela last winter I saw Moringa trees growing along the sides of roads in Tachira state. Tachira is up in the Andes on the Colombian border.
I was overly enthusiastic about the tree, having read that its cultivation was spreading in Venezuela. It hurts to have to speak of such a thing - that what's practically a weed might offer salvation or at least relief to a nation that creates delicious and even photogenic cuisine that is a source of pride as well as alimentation and pleasure. Talking about cultivating a weed, and coming from a New York City taxi driver of all people, could be difficult to swallow. My voice and my opinions don't count for much or have much currency in Venezuela or New York for that matter.
The facts are the tree is fast growing, not requiring any major capital to plant, cultivate or harvest and people are both eating the leaves for nutrition and are feeding the leaves to livestock.
I was overly enthusiastic about the tree, having read that its cultivation was spreading in Venezuela. It hurts to have to speak of such a thing - that what's practically a weed might offer salvation or at least relief to a nation that creates delicious and even photogenic cuisine that is a source of pride as well as alimentation and pleasure. Talking about cultivating a weed, and coming from a New York City taxi driver of all people, could be difficult to swallow. My voice and my opinions don't count for much or have much currency in Venezuela or New York for that matter.
The facts are the tree is fast growing, not requiring any major capital to plant, cultivate or harvest and people are both eating the leaves for nutrition and are feeding the leaves to livestock.
Two Weeks Notice: A Latin American Politics Blog: Bloomberg's Confused Venezuela Editorial
Fidel Castro swears by the moringa tree. Here he is tending his garden.
Venezuela is now looking to the moringa tree for its nutritive and medicinal properties in the midst of food and medicine shortages.
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