(A column highlighting scientific, technological, engineering and design innovation in Africa)
Sudanese innovator Muna Majoud Mahoamed Ahmed created an agroforesty model farm in Khartoum that produces innovative sources of income from moringa leaves and seeds and jatropha seeds.
Agroforestry combines trees and shrubs with crops to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land use. The Sudanese innovator’s model farm co-mingles moringa trees and the smaller jatropha trees.
The leaves of the moringa tree, known as the miracle tree or tree of life, are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals and contains all nine essential amino acids, while its seeds are high in oleic acid. The seeds can be used as feedstock for biodiesel fuel, as well as for water purification. The tree is being cultivated as a primary source of food and nutrients in famine-prone countries, and as a source of income due to increasing global demand.
Jatropha, a flowering plant, is resistant to drought and pests and produces seeds containing 27 percent to 40 percent oil that can be processed to produce a high-quality biodiesel fuel. In Sudan it is located in several areas, including Khartoum State, central Sudan, eastern Sudan (Kasala), and western Sudan (Kordufan), but it mainly grows in great numbers in South Sudan, especially in Bahrel-Jabal and Bahrel-Ghazal
Unlike in other parts of the world, jatropha in Sudan can yield three times a year, producing a comfortable economic crop. Jatropha production can last for 50 years. A single Jatropha tree can yield 6 to 8 kilograms of seeds.
Muna Majoud Mahoamed Ahmed’s model farm was one of ten finalists for the 2013 Innovation Prize for Africa, an annual prize that recognizes African innovators who develop practical solutions to some of the continent’s most intractable problems. Finalists are chosen from hundreds of entries from across the continent.
