In line with World Moringa Day, attention has been drawn on declaring a national moringa (murunga) promotion day in Sri Lanka also with the view to make people aware of the nutritional and medicinal value of moringa.
Moringa is commonly used as a highly nutritious food in many countries today, especially in the African region. Moringa leaves also have medicinal value in addition to the high nutritional value.
Country Director of the international organisation ‘Moringa for Life’, Wasantha Kulatunga said that it is planned to announce a national moringa promotion day in Sri Lanka with the aim of passing the information about moringa to the people of Sri Lanka and promoting the cultivation of moringa plants in every house.
Joint research carried out in Japan and California has identified that moringa leaves contain many vitamins and essential nutrients. Mariko Gifford of Japan, who revealed the facts about moringa to people around the world, points out that by eating a spoonful of moringa leaves daily, the body receives nearly 15 nutrients including five vitamins, calcium, iron, phosphorus, protein, and magnesium.
For example, she said that the body gets the biotin content of seven eggs in a bunch of moringa leaves.
A Moringa Study and Research Centre has been started with the aim of equipping the people in the country with knowledge about the properties of Moringa leaves and promoting its consumption.
Damayanthi Joan Lee, who conducts research on moringa, has given her house and land in the Kanniya area of Trincomalee, which was completely destroyed during the war, for the Moringa Study and Research Centre.
Lee said that an international conference on the nutritional value of moringa will be held on April 18 at that Centre in Trincomalee. She also stated that interested locals or foreigners can also participate in the conference.
Mariko Gifford from Japan will be the chief guest and guest speaker of the conference.
Dharma Sri Abeyratne