Marama or gemsbuck beans (Tylosema esculentum) in the picture

The number of endangered species is continuously growing. More and more plants and animals become extinct, due to urbanisation, over-exploitation and climate change. In order to encourage crop diversification all over the world, one should attempt to domesticate and breed interesting food and fodder crops, transforming them into valuable crops for men and livestock.

One of those remarkable wild plant species is Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) Schreiber (Fabaceae), called Camel’s foot, Gemsbuck beans, tamani berry, marama, morama bean or braaiboontjie (Afrikaans).

Tylosema esculentum is a herbaceous or woody plant, occurring in southern Africa and cultivated successfully in Australia and in the USA. Its prostrate and trailing stems are up to 3m long. They grow from a remarkably large tuber (at least up to 10 kg). The leaves are deeply bilobed, the lobes reniform. Its large yellow flowers are grouped in a many-flowered raceme. Pods and brownish-black seeds are ovate to circular.

Marama is well-known for the high starch, protein and oil content of its large seeds (gemsbuck beans of 20-30 g), having a nutritional value similar to that of peanuts or soya beans. Cultivated by smallholders in semi-arid areas, it can become very effective in countries with a high level of child malnutrition, particularly where protein deficiency is a major problem.

The tasteless, slimy seeds are not eaten raw, but roasted ones have a nutty flavour. They can be boiled with maize meal, or ground to powder. In some areas the young tubers and young stems are also roasted and eaten. The slightly bitter oil has a nutty flavour.

This wild species merits to be more widely cultivated in the future.  It can become an economically viable cash crop for the drylands, generating a considerably higher income for smallholders. Domestication of Marama or gemsbuck beans should be considered as an important practical tool to improve public health and living conditions in all the drylands of this world.

If it is already cultivated successfully in southern Africa, the USA and Australia, why would people in Africa and Asia not be offered the same opportunities?  Let us spread the good word.  And the marama seeds !

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