The Saijan tree should be given prominence as a nutritional powerhouse

May 24, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Pat Dial’s Consumer Corner offering on the extraordinary nutritional benefits of the various products of the Saijan tree (Moringa oliefera) – KN May 21 2017- is timely and relevant in the ongoing evolution of dietary habits within the Guyanese culinary culture. His brief historical review referenced the enthusiastic efforts of the late Dr. Ptolomy Reid (in the 1970s) to promote the tree as a nutritional powerhouse, and to encourage its cultivation, however he forgot to mention the symbolic gesture of the then Forbes Burnham Government to name a building which was at that time one of the numerous commercial state assets –Saijan Plaza.
Saijan Plaza located at the south eastern corner of Camp and Charlotte Streets, back in the 1970s, accommodated stores and a couple of restaurants located on two of its four floors. It was subsequently bought over by Citizens Bank which just recently vacated those premises to occupy its new corporate headquarters just a corner away. Symbolically it would be so very appropriate for that building to be re-bestowed with a name that included the word Saijan – if for no other reason- it would remind us Guyanese of a symbolic tree which is undeniably a source of healthful nutritional benefit, which we have been neglecting and being allowed to fade into oblivion.
One can appreciate the ambivalence of the average citizen who might not have had the culture or exposure to the consumption of Sijan, for I myself was once in that position. The Sijan tree first attracted my attention in Tortola BVI where it grows profusely on the hillsides bordering the winding roads in much drier and rockier soil than in our coastal belt. I collected some seeds and cultivated the tree in my home yard solely as an ornamental tree.
On return to Guyana I was educated by an experienced user of Sijan on the culinary conversion of the tree products –leaves and pods (drumsticks). Still an ornamental tree, but now with added nutritional / health value. The good thing about the Sijan tree is that it is quick growing and can be controlled by judicious trimming / pruning to remain shrubby enough to be accommodated in even the most modest sized backyard.
It is good that NAREI has embarked on a programme to promote and support the development of Saijan as a vegetable commodity in its own right, and hopefully we will see tangible benefits in due course. But in the short term, one should not sit and wait on NAREI while there are so many backyard and fence-line Saijan trees across the length and breadth of coastal Guyana, where leaves flowers and pods just go to waste in some situations, since the owners or custodians of these bearing trees seem not to be interested in harvesting and utilizing the valuable products. A word of warning – Saijan branches are very brittle and extreme caution should be exercised in attempting to climb to reach coveted bearing products. This might explain why some trees are not harvested.
Rowland Fletcher

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