Economics Of Dry Season Telfairia Occidentalis Production In Ikwuano Local Government Of Abia State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Production of fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occideritalis) is one of the major dry season farming activities carried out in all the four agricultural blocks of Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State. These four agricultural blocks are Ariam, Ibere, Oboro and Oloko. Fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) belongs to the cucurbitaceae family, which include melon, gourds and squashes. It is a leafy vegetable, a perennial crop. Fluted pumpkin is drought resistance and is trellised in terms of nutritional salt. According to Sigmund (1991), Telfairia occidentalis contains vitamin K, vitamin A, Ribo flavin, thiamine, niacin, crude protein, iron, calcium, phosphorous, etc. The fruit of Telfairia occidentalis is large (up to 13kg) and it is edible and contains up to 30% protein. The seed can be boiled and eaten or ground to powder for soup. The seed can be eaten as a nut. The seed can be fermented for several days and eaten as slurry (Badifu and Ogunsua, 1991). Fluted pumpkin like other vegetables is consumed in a relatively small quantity with staple food (Rice, etal, 1986). Shoots from female plants of fluted pumpkin can be cooked and eaten (Lucas, 1988).