Sesame seeds |
| Posted by ASCE (admin) on Wednesday, 9th January, 2008 at 4:56 AM |
Sesame seeds (sesamum indicum) belong to the plant family Pedaliaceae. It is an important oilseed crop believed to have originated from tropical Africa, where you have the greatest genetic diversity.
The total world crop area under sesame seed is about 6 million hectares. Sixty-six percent of this is concentrated in Asia. Twenty five percent of world sesame seed hecterage is planted in Africa (mainly Nigeria, Ethopia and Sudan) and eight percent in America (Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala and Columbia)
The leading world producers are India, China, Mexico and Sudan in Africa. Total annual consumption is about 65% for oil extraction and 35% for food. According to FAO 2000 report, exports and imports data for Africa for the year 2000 stood at 232, 670 and 96,455MT respectively. Japan leads the world in sesame seed imports followed by Europe and United States.
Sesame seed is now cultivated in almost all tropical and sub-tropical Africa and Asian countries, Southern European countries, Russia, South and Central America and to some extent in the United States.
Sesame seed is used for food as cake, wine and brandy, bread stick and crakers, salad and cooking oil, roasted seed, soup, spice, seed oil, salad and fish oil.
It can also be used as industrial raw material inform of antifungal, bactericide, insecticide, cosmetics, soap, etc. It can also be used as Nutraceutical - antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and fatty acid oxidation, skin softner. They also use it in the Pharmaceutical Industry as laxative.
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