•  December 2000February 2001 Local News Headlines

Friday, February 23, 2001 - Web posted at 7:52:12 AM GMT

Green grows the desert
MAGGI BARNARD

YOU find them on the menus of many restaurants and hotels, on some shop shelves and in the fridges of many homes.

If you have just returned from a holiday at the coast, chances are good that you have tasted them.

You can even find them inland if you know where to look

And if you have not tried them yet, you are missing out on some of the most delicious vegetable spears in the world, grown in the heart of the desert.

Swakopmund asparagus has become the latest delicacy in the Namibian culinary world and, hopefully, is here to stay.

If Brussels can have its sprouts, the Irish their potatoes and Russia its beetroot, why not Namibia her asparagus?

The dry Swakop riverbed, 16 kilometres inland from Swakopmund, is home to an asparagus paradise.

Saline water, not fit for human consumption, pumped from wells in the riverbed is responsible for its unique taste."

"People are crazy about the taste.

Some rate it above the Mediterranean asparagus, which is the best in the world," says the owner of Swakopmund Asparagus, Stefanus van Niekerk.

Although not the only asparagus farmer in the riverbed, Van Niekerk is the biggest producer.

The asparagus project was started by The Roessing Foundation in 1989 after a local farmer suggested that asparagus, one of the most expensive vegetables in the world, could be developed into an export crop for Namibia.

By 1997 the Foundation was exporting to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Holland.

Van Niekerk bought the farm from the Foundation at the beginning of last year.

He has six hectares under cultivation, producing a yield of about 50 kg a day during the season, and is preparing seedlings to expand to nine hectares.

It is a costly exercise.

One kilogram of seeds, imported from the United States, costs N$10 000 which is enough for one hectare.

It will take another four years before Van Niekerk sees any return on his investment.

Asparagus is a perennial, grown from seeds, and transplanted as a one-year-old plant, called a crown.

The crowns need another three years before they are established enough to harvest.

A mature crown can provide an annual yield of about 12 years.

Another benefit of farming with asparagus in the Swakop riverbed is the absence of frost.

In Europe and South Africa the harvest is limited to about 90 days during spring and early summer, while the Swakop asparagus is harvested any time from September to April.

Apart from supplying the local market, Van Niekerk concentrates on exporting to South Africa from January onwards when their season has ended.

He says it is not worth exploring overseas market at present as his production is too small and transport costs very high.

He hopes to expand overseas once his extra three hectares are fully productive.

Harvesting is a labour intensive process.

At present Van Niekerk employs 18 people full-time for nine months of the year, providing much-needed employment to residents of the river's squatter community.

Come harvest time the asparagus ferns are cut down and the newly emerging spears harvested as they reach 20 centimetres.

Van Niekerk says you can virtually sit and watch the spears grow.

As a result the spears must be cut twice a day, seven days a week.

Once harvested they must be washed, trimmed, graded and cooled in a hydrocooler to get rid of the field heat.

Asparagus is a native of the Mediterranean - the Romans discovered the wonders of this spear as early as 200 BC.

It is high in flavour but low in calories and an excellent source of vitamins A and C.

It also contains a good supply of potassium and phosphorus, and is a natural diuretic for bladder or kidney problems.

If you do not prefer it raw, Van Niekerk warns that you should really "only warm it up instead of cooking it".

No wonder Emperor Caesar Augustus was reputed to have described "speed" as being "quicker than you can cook asparagus".