The fruits can be eaten fresh green and soft like beans, the seeds as dry or fried vegetables. The young leaves can be boiled and eaten like spinach. In combination with the flowers, the leaves are used to prepare soup. The flowers can also be used to prepare salad. The flowers, fruits and leaves are rich in vitamin C.

In Niger, the harvesting is done after every 20 days and the leaves are sold fresh or dried.
The different parts of the plant are widely used in traditional medicine. Research has been done on the medicinal values of the leaves, roots, bark and seeds. This was treated in the last issue of The Farmer’s Voice.
Moringa seed contains 40% by weight of oil. This is a very important point. Moringa seeds can be used first for oil extraction, without reducing their effectiveness for water treatment. Moringa oil is of high quality and potentially has a high market value. The oil is of equal value both for cooking oil and as the main ingredient for soap manufacture.

Using artisan methods of extraction gives between 100 to 200g/ha. The powder form can be used in the purification of water. Very nitrogenous, they are also used as green fertilizer.
Seed pods should be left to mature on the tree and harvested when dry. The light ‘wings’ and shells of the seeds are easily removed, leaving the white seed kernels. These are finely crushed and pounded, using a pestle and mortar. The amount of seed needed to treat river water depends on how much suspended matter the water contains.

To treat 20 litres of water (the amount carried in the average large bucket) about 2 grams of crushed seed is needed (2 level 5ml teaspoons or 2 rounded soda bottle tops). Add a small amount of clean water to the crushed seed to form a paste. Put the paste into a clean bottle. Add a cup (200ml) of clean water and shake for 5 minutes. This action activates the chemicals in the crushed seed.
Filter this solution through white cotton cloth into a 20 litre bucket of river water. The contents are stirred rapidly for 2 minutes, followed by slow stirring for 10–15 minutes. During this slow mixing period, the moringa seed binds together (coagulates) the fine particles and bacteria into larger particles which sink and settle at the bottom of the bucket. After an hour, clear water can be drawn off.

This process will remove 90–99.9% of the bacteria which are attached to the solid particles, as well as clearing the water. However, some harmful micro organisms still in the water may not be removed, especially if the water is very badly polluted. For drinking water, further purification is recommended – either by boiling or with a simple sand filter. The dried seeds (remove discoloured ones) and powder can be stored. However, the paste must be prepared fresh each day.
Cuts on the trunk produce a white gum which becomes yellow and later reddish brown. It does not dissolve in water and so is used for tanning. This gum is astringent and so can be used as a treatment for diarrhoea. Moringa is also used as a fibre plant for the production of paper paste. The tree is too soft to be used for construction.

The fruit of research studies
The literature on the production and medicinal values of Moringa Oleifera is much and varied. It is a result of research that has been carried out mostly in West Africa and Asia. But research institutions in Cameroon do not show any interest in having invested in this plant multiple usages. Jean Michel Onana, Botanist who heads a botanic research station in Yaounde says that is understandable because the Moringa is believed to be a sahel shrub. That is why Moringa is only known in a local language in the northern region and nowhere in the country. It is an excellent vegetable consumed in the northern part of the country.

However, Moringa Oleifera is entering the universe of biodiversity south of Cameroon. Following the speed with which the population of southern Cameroon is adopting the plant, scientific research will benefit more by consecrating in it.
Who knows, maybe in future, the institute for medicinal research and medicinal plant studies will discover some of the medicinal values of this plant with specificities common to the tropical area, high savannah or high plateau. Some people even say that a combination of Moringa produced from different regions will produce explosive results.

Usesful addresses
Where to buy Moringa seeds or plants
- SAILD Yaounde. BP 11955, Tél. 22 22 46 82 / 99 41 40 89 / 77 62 94 24
- IRAD Maroua. BP : 33,Tél. 22 99-24-15; iradmaroua@yahoo.fr
- M. Mendana Benjamin Soa-Yaoundé Tél.77 85 79 16

Where to buy Moringa leaf powder
- M. Mendana Benjamin Soa-Yaoundé Tél.77 85 79 16
- M. Andy Ndofor, Ekoumdoum Yaoundé Tél. 77 68 68 37

Internet site and documents exploited
- www. Moringanews.org
- Synthèse technique n° 136 CTA/BDPA-SCETAGRI