Articles
VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN THE ASIAN AND PACIFIC REGION
With more than 400 million people in the world currently classed as malnourished,this resource requires expansion.
Table 1 shows how six vegetable crops contribute towards balancing a rice diet.
Table 1. Nutritional contributions of AVRDC’s six crops towards balancing a rice diet.a
| Crop (per 100 g) | % H2O | Fiber (g) | Energy (Cal) | Protein (g) | Iron (mg) | Calcium (mg) | Vitamin A 1.0 | Vitamin B1 (mg) | Vitamin B2 (mg) | Niacin (mg) | Vitamin C (mg) |
| Rice | 13 | 0.5 | 354 | 6.5 | 0.6 | 15 | 0 | 0.11 | 0.04 | 1.4 | 0 |
| Soybean | 8 | 18.0 | 325 | 36.8 | 7.4 | 216 | 20 | 0.44 | 0.31 | 3.2 | 0 |
| Monbean | 11 | 1.1 | 320 | 22.9 | 4.9 | 86 | 70 | 0.52 | 0.29 | 3.1 | 0 |
| Sweet potato | 70 | 0.3 | 113 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 46 | 7,100 | 0.08 | 0.05 | 1.9 | 20 |
| White potato | 67 | 0.1 | 75 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 7 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.04 | 1.0 | 7 |
| Tomato | 95 | 0.3 | 18 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 11 | 260 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.4 | 29 |
| Chinese cabbage | 95 | 0.5 | 15 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 38 | + | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.4 | 35 |
| Recommended nutritional balancec | 354 | 7.8 | 2.4 | 83 | 690 | 0.19 | 0.20 | 2.4 | 7 |
PaAdapted form T.C. Tung,P.C. Huang,H.C. Li,and H.L. Chen.
Composition of foods used in Taiwan.
Journal of the Formosan Medical Association,vol. 60(11) pp. 973-1005,Nov 1961. bOrange-fleshed sweet potato roots. cCombined averages of recommended balance when caloric level is 354 cal (100 g of rice) for adult men doing moderate work and 10-year-old children in Taiwan and India. "+" = Trace. = significant contribution.
Vegetables are also high-value crops useful for improving incomes of small farmers (figure 1).
Much vegetable production in tropical Asia is carried on at high elevations where cool temperatures permit growing poorly adapted vegetables demanded by European tastes and the hotel trade.
Major vegetable production zones have thus been created in Baguio,(the Phillippines), Dalat,(Vietnam),Bandung,(Indonesia),Chiang Mai,(Thailand), Cameron Highlands,(Malaysia),Goroka and Mt.
Hargan,(Papua and New