The many uses of the prickly pear cactus

Script

Here’s some information of special interest to farmers who live in places where the soil is dry. Have you noticed that the soil blows around your fields? Are your crops stunted? Have they stopped growing?

You are not alone. There are many farmers like you who worry that they will have to keep moving to find better land for farming. That’s because infertile land is spreading like a disease across many countries. This problem is called desertification. First the land loses its cover of vegetation. Without grasses and trees to help hold it in place, much of the topsoil blows away or is carried away by the rains. Only hard, dry land is left behind.

But the problem can be fixed. Many countries have already taken steps to fight desertification and with your help it can be stopped.

Listen to the following information about a plant that has many uses, is drought resistant, and is easy to grow in arid and semi-arid areas.

I’m going to tell you about a plant that you may already know. You see it growing in rocky or barren soil where most other plants cannot survive. It is the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.).

But what you may not know is that this can be a profitable crop for you. It has a delicious, edible fruit that you can harvest and sell. The leaves can be used for animal feed in times of drought. And, it grows on infertile, eroded soils in dry areas. The prickly pear cactus stores lots of water in its root and leaves, so it can survive even a very severe drought. If this plant already grows in your area there are many ways that it can be useful to you. This is especially true if you live in a dry, barren area where there are droughts and where soils are eroding. However, it is not a plant that you should introduce as a new crop because it can become a pest in areas where it does not grow naturally.

Have you ever eaten the fruit of the prickly pear? It grows on the side of the leaf and looks like a small, round cucumber. It is sometimes called the desert fig. The fruit is sweet and refreshing. It can also be made into marmalades or dried. In Mexico people eat the young leaves as a vegetable. The leaves look like pear-shaped disks and are covered with prickles or thorns, so you have to be careful when picking or preparing them.

The leaves of the prickly pear are very useful for farmers in dry areas. You can use them as animal feed during a drought. Because the leaves contain a lot of water, they provide animals with water during times when water is scarce. In fact healthy sheep are known to survive up to eight months on a diet entirely made up of prickly pear cactus. Cattle and goats have kept their same weight for three months on a diet of only prickly pear cactus. The leaves contain a lot of roughage, and some vitamins and minerals, but not much protein. Ideally, animals should eat a variety of foods. Still, prickly pear is a good food during drought or in the dry season when not much else is growing.

There is another important use of this plant! The prickly pear cactus is a good plant for erosion control. Here’s why. It grows quickly and has small roots that regrow each year from the main root during times of rain. When it gets dry, these smaller roots die, adding lots of organic matter to the soil. With more organic matter it is easier for the soil to absorb rainwater.

The prickly pear cactus grows in most soils, but it especially likes sandy or rocky soils on steep slopes – soils that are not usually good for other crops. It grows well with little rain, but it grows even better with a lot of rain. It grows in areas with as little as 150 millimetres of rain a year, to as much as 1200 millimetres per year. The prickly pear cactus already grows in many parts of the world such as Central and South America, Africa, Australia, and parts of Asia. In some areas it is seen as a pest because each leaf that breaks off and falls to the ground starts a new plant!

The prickly pear cactus is very easy to grow. To plant it, just break off a leaf from a mature plant. Choose leaves from plants that have lots of fruit, with not too many prickly thorns. Dig a small hole and place the leaf in the hole so that one third of the leaf is buried. The plant will grow roots on the part that is underground. Keep animals away from the young plants. Each year the cactus will add new leaves. Depending on the variety of prickly pear cactus planted – there are at least 300 different varieties – the plant will start to produce fruit in two to three years, and will continue producing for many more years to come.

The fruit should remain on the plant after the flower on the end dies and falls away. Certain varieties change color from green to yellow or red when they are ripe and ready to be picked. Other varieties stay green.

When the fruit is ready to be picked cover each one with a plastic cup, or use gloves to keep your hands from getting prickles. Cut the fruit off at its base. Then place the fruit on a hard surface. Hold the fruit still with a fork and cut through the outer skin with a knife. Peel the skin back all around leaving the pitty fruit. Now you can eat. The whole fruit is eaten -pits and all. But be careful! People who eat only prickly pear fruit and not much else may have problems with the pits compacting in their intestines. So always eat a variety of other foods, too.

If you are feeding the leaves to livestock you will have to remove the small thorns or prickles before the animals can easily eat them. Or you can chop the leaves up into small pieces with a large knife or machete, chopping the thorns up in the process, and then feeding the chopped leaves to animals. Other ways of making the thorns harmless are: soaking the leaves in water before feeding them to animals, steaming the leaves, or washing them with soda.

I mentioned that there are more than 300 varieties of prickly pear cactus. Some new varieties have very few prickles. They varieties are easier to pick and use because you don’t need to wear protective clothing, or worry about removing the prickles before eating or selling the fruit.

The prickly pear cactus has many uses. I’ve talked about three uses: one, food for people from the fruit; two, using prickly pear leaves for animal food in times of drought; and three, using the prickly pear cactus to combat soil erosion.

Prickly pear cacti are easy to grow. They are drought resistant and have multiple uses. They are already widely distributed around the world, and they grow in areas where other plants often can’t survive.