A hunter of ideal crops for Kenya has ended years of searching with the discovery and cultivation of wild Marama beans, a long-forgotten desert crop that offers food in drought and a “living water tank”.
Marama beans, which originated from the Kalahari region, are believed to have been part of our diets for as long as any crop that has existed. The crop grows naturally in areas with poor-quality sand soil, less than 100mm in rainfall, and temperatures of more than 37 °C. Underground, Marama can hold up to 250Kg of water which for over 1,000 years has been an emergency desert water source for Botswana and Namibia tribes. Above ground, the legume is a life-sustaining food source for the ǃKung people on the western tip of the Kalahari, while the Herero and Tswana roast its seeds into a cashew nut tasting delicacy and bake its tubers to make a sweet vegetable dish.
Surprisingly, despite there being no literature on the crop which can also be pressed for oil and used as feed in Kenya, there is mention of it being called ombasa by the Luo in a book on Africa’s Lost Crops.
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Having researched the fascinating drought-loving crop with multiple uses, Kenya’s foremost regenerative agriculture practitioner Thiong’o Gachie had been on the hunt for its seeds for years. This finally bore fruit in August of this year when a friend spotted it growing wild in Mtito Andei from its characteristic leathery leaves, yellow flowers, and brown seed pods.
“My job is all about training communities in Kenya’s drylands of Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, Turkana, Kajiado, Kwale, Laikipia, Makueni, and even Tharaka Nithi counties how to weather climate shocks that come with living in desertifying lands. To that end we encourage farmers to grow nutrient-dense crops that can withstand increasingly long periods of drought such as pearl millet, sorghum, and pigeon peas,” he said.
Gachie who grows organic sorghum at his farm in Laikipia which he mills into flour for ugali and porridge contends that Kenya’s food security is only bound to worsen and that our current dependence on maize and rice is not sustainable.
“Droughts are getting longer and rainy months shorter each year. Crops such as maize and rice are becoming increasingly difficult to grow in our arid and semi-arid lands. Also, unlike products from indegeneous African crops, maize derivatives such as ugali are rich in carbs but have very little nutrients and need to be fortified at additional cost,” said the founder of Afrikan Regenerative Solutions.
Gachie, who will be the first to document marama beans being grown in Kenya publicly, adds that its sprawling growth behaviour can be used as a cover crop to regenerate barren land.
As a survival measure for growing in the most water-deprived conditions, marama is made up of up to 90 per cent water and is the tuber that is dug and squeezed for water in the 1980 “The Gods Must Be Crazy” film which is partly a comedy tale of life in the Kalahari desert filmed in both Namibia and Botswana.
According to Christopher Cullis, a biology professor at Case Western Reserve University, what makes marema special is that even in the most adverse drought conditions it does not die.
Speaking to the university’s online paper, the daily, he noted that while other legumes die under acute drought stress marama beans keep growing.
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Learning how marama does this could help in learning how to make other legumes and also deal better with droughts.
Marama which grows in poor organic matter soils with little nutrients takes two to four years to mature though their tubers are dug up when they are young (under two years) and weigh at least one kilogram to be eaten as they get fibrous the more mature they get.
The legume’s seed pods are hard and usually have 1–6 seeds inside. In Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa they are roasted and ground to be used as an almond seed substitute for baking and cooking. They are also boiled with maize to a porridge or ground to make a cocoa-like drink.
Afrikan Regenerative Solutions: 0717735165
Photos Courtesy: Thiong’o Wa Gachie, The Inco Marama II Project