Cassava Harvest

Postcard US-3957035 to Belgium shows a watercolor painting Cassava Harvest by Dorothy B. Hayes.

Cassava is a perennial woody shrub with an edible root, originated from tropical America and was first introduced into Africa in the Congo basin by the Portuguese around 1558.

Because Cassava is rich in carbohydrates, calcium, vitamins B and C, and essential minerals, and grows well in poor soils with limited labor requirements, it becomes the main nutrition source for 500 million people in Africa. It also provides food security during conflicts when the invader cannot easily destroy or remove the crop, since it conveniently grows underground. Roots can be harvested between six months and three years after planting. Africa accounted for 63% of Nineteen million hectares of cassava planted worldwide in 2007.

Although Cassava requires only 21% labor in terms of working days, compared to other staple crops such as maize, yam and rice, it does require intensive post-harvest processing as the roots are highly perishable and need to be processed for storage soon after harvest.

The postcard was produced by IITA-UNICEF Program on Household Food Security and Nutrition, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria.

IITA and partners just announced Cassava Innovation Challenge in which the Rockefeller Foundation would provide up to 1 million US dollars in grants for global innovations to enhance cassava shelf life,

Floriade World Horticultural Expo

It is Thanksgiving today! To celebrate a harvest season, I would like to note Postcard NL-1895799 from the Netherlands that features Floriade, a World Horticultural Expo staged once every ten years in the Netherlands. The most recent Floriade was organized in Venlo from April to mid-October 2012. It was the sixth Floriade where the world's most exquisite and exceptional flowers, plants, trees and fruit and vegetables were on display.

However, Floriade offered more with a collection of music, dance, literature, theater and visual art programs from all over the world. What impressed me most was its sustainable, pioneering architectural components shown for the first time at Floriade. Guess I will have to mark my calendar for 2022.

Mid-Autumn Festival

I received a postcard from Taiwan today. It is one of the serious of Taiwan Retrospective Exhibition by Jau Pang Hsu, documenting farming with black and white. Its arrival coincides the Mid-Autumn Festival which is September 19 in 2013. 

The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節/中秋节) is a popular harvest festival celebrated by people from Asia on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, during a full moon, which occurs in late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, close to the autumnal equinox. Family members are gathering and eating moon cakes for celebration. It's similar to the Thanksgiving in the U.S.