With the growing international population in Canada, it is also seeing a rise in demand for produce not conventionally grown by farmers in the country. One such vegetable which some researchers see promise in for Canadian cultivation is okra.
Over six million kilograms of okra is imported into Canada every year and the demand climbs annually. India is the top producer of the world’s okra, growing more than 70 per cent of the global crop. Other big producers are Nigeria, Sudan, Iraq and Pakistan.
It’s a subtropical crop that thrives in a hot and dry environment, so Canada hasn’t always been the most logical place for production. But with recent use of greenhouses and the use of black plastic coverings some varieties of the vegetable are showing to be viable in Canada.
Dr. Viliam Zvalo is a research scientist in the area of vegetable production at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland). He said that the biggest challenges to growing okra in Canada are the shorter growing season and the labour requirements. During the harvest season, plants need to be harvested daily to give the immature pods time and space to grow, which requires a big staffing commitment.
To help boost the crop’s potential and maximize growing time, seeds are started in greenhouses and then transplanted into fields covered in the black plastic mulch to keep the plants at a safe temperature and to protect from the cold. Spacing of the plants is critical according to Dr. Zvalo, the further apart, the higher their yields.
To date, crop trials have shown that three particular varieties – Lucky Green, Elisa and Jambalaya – do the best in Canada.
