Guests are welcome to try their hand at farming some of our produce which includes several varieties of lettuce as well as sweet basil and rocket, which have traditionally been imported from neighbouring countries. Rocket is the flagship plant of the farm and is also featured in the Amarak logo. Native to the Mediterranean region, the plant is widely cultivated for culinary and medicinal uses in southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia where it is considered a specialty food or even a delicacy, especially in Italy and southern France.
In 1994, the Underutilized Mediterranean Species (UMS) project supported by the Italian Government set up the Rocket Genetic Resources Network in partnership with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) in Rome. The network examined the scientific contributions to the genetic, breeding and cultivation
aspects of rocket at a workshop in Italy in 1996. IPGRI published the workshop proceedings in 1997, giving an overview of the cultivation, use and popularity of rocket around the world, notably in Italy but also in India, Israel Portugal and Turkey.
‘IMPROVING OUR QUALITY OF LIFE’
According to the UMS project coordinator, rocket is a “key crop, selected for raising awareness on the great potentials of our agrobiodiversity wealth, and to show how little of this richness actually represents the basis of our agricultural systems. It is estimated that of the 7000 edible species around the world only a tiny fraction, amounting to 150 or so, are in fact being commercialized, rocket being one of those left out. A greater attention to rocket and to other neglected species represents an important step towards both agricultural and diet diversification which ultimately contribute to improving our quality of life.”
FURTHER READING:
Padulosi, S. and D. Pignone, editors. 1997. Rocket: a Mediterranean crop for the world. Report of a workshop,
13-14 December 1996, Legnaro (Padova), Italy. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy.
