Preliminary study on the cultivation potential of wild vegetables Etlingera elatior, E. punicea and Commelina paludosa of Sarawak

Wild vegetables often play an important role in rural communities in terms of nutrition and food security but their potential for cultivation remains largely unexplored. The young shoots, flowers and fruits of Etlingera elatior and Etlingera punicea, and the shoots of Commelina paludosa are commonly consumed in Southeast Asia. Studies on fertiliser response and market value to determine the cultivation potential were carried out in Sarawak, Malaysia. Response to shade was also tested for C. paludosa. Etlingera elatior produces high yields of young shoots with low levels of fertiliser, and cultivation is profitable if the urban demand can be ensured. The yield of the more frequently marketed flower buds was not fully evaluated and ways to increase flower production should be investigated. Etlingera punicea is not suitable for cultivation under the present trial conditions, but should be tested in other soil types as the young shoots are frequently marketed. Commelina paludosa *Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 København K, Denmark Author's full name: Ole Mertz ©Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute 1999 e-mail: [email protected] Cultivation potential of Sarawak wild vegetables 28 produced high yields that increase linearly with increasing fertiliser applications under shaded conditions. This species would be excellent for cultivation in shaded home gardens and could be a potentially valuable cash crop if introduced into urban markets. Subsistence farmers may benefit from all three species as they are perennial and may be harvested continuously with low labour input. Plate 1. Field trial with Etlingera elatior. Unfertilised plot in foreground Introduction Consumption of wild vegetables is widespread in most tropical countries and numerous studies have shown the importance of wild plants when used by indigenous communities (Salafsky et al. 1993; Etkin 1994; Leaman et al. 1996). Moreover, urban demand driven by traditional food preferences and fear of pesticide residue in cultivated vegetables are very often high, and many wild species have considerable marketing potential (Peters et al. 1989; Burgers 1993). Several studies point to the advantage of developing local species for vegetable production (de Foresta and Michon 1993; Colfer and Soedjito 1996; Christensen 1997) rather than using high yielding, but often disease prone exotic crops in resource poor communities. With increasing pressure on forest resources, certain species are also likely to disappear if not taken into cultivation. Very little attention has been given to the potential of domesticating wild vegetables in the tropics, and the objective of this paper is to determine the possibility of growing three wild vegetable species commonly used for subsistence and sometimes marketed in Southeast Asia. Fertiliser and shade trials at a research station and a market survey were employed in the study and related to farmer assessment of the species as reported in Mertz (1999 a, b). Etlingera elatior (Jack.) R.M. Smith and E. punicea (Roxb.) R. M. Smith, both in Zingiberaceae (Plate 1 and Plate 2) were chosen for study as they are very popular vegetables in Sarawak for subsistence and marketing. They are found all over Sarawak and gathered mainly in secondary forest (DOA 1992; Christensen 1997). They are also common in other parts of Southeast Asia, particularly E. elatior whose flowers