Original Text from Insights and Ideas, by Patricia Ackert

Original text from Insights and Ideas, by Patricia Ackert

“NEW”PLANTS

As the world’s population increases, countries must produce more food. However, deserts are growing, and millions of people are building houses on land that used to be farms. How can we solve a problem that seems to have no solution?

One way is to start eating different plants. There are 350,000 kinds of plants in the world. Of these, 80,000 are suitable for humans. But today over one-half of all human food energy and protein comes from corn, wheat, and rice. It is common in developing countries for people to depend on only one or two plants for their food. A disease or bad weather can destroy these crops, and the people have nothing to eat.

Corn, wheat, and rice are between 8 percent and 14 percent protein. Meat and fish are from 20 percent to 30 percent protein. Soybeans are almost 40 percent protein. They are an important food in China and Japan. Other beans eaten widely in Latin America have about the same amount of protein as meat.

However, there are other plants that are rich in protein. People in parts of Papua-New Guinea and Southeast Asia eat winged beans. They are over 30 percent protein. The marama bean, as rich as the soybean, grows wild in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa.

The potato, an important food in Europe and North America, will not grow in a hot climate. But the cocoyam, similar to the potato, is eaten in Latin America and West Africa. It can grow in a hot climate, and it does not matter whether the climate is wet or dry.

Scientists are growing crops of buffalo gourds in Mexico and Lebanon. The seeds are up to 35 percent protein. The plant grows wild in the Arizona-Sonora Desert and can grow in other dry areas.

In 1977 a new kind of teosinteplant was discovered in the mountains of Mexico. It is a relative of corn, but it can probably grow in a wetter climate than corn. Even more important, the teosinte can produce crops every year. They do not have to be replanted from seeds as corn does.

Nevertheless, there may be a different kind of problem with “new” plants. Will people eat different foods? Food is a very important part of our lives, and it is often difficult to change to a different kind of food. However, scientists are hopeful. In the 1920s, George Washington Carver started experimenting with the peanut, which is as rich in protein as meat. He developed many ways to use the peanut as food, and today it is eaten all over the world. Perhaps in a few years the teosinte and the marama bean will be as widely used as the peanut.