History of sesame seed cultivation in the world
Sesame seeds are considered to be the oldest oil seeds of mankind. There are many species of sesame, and the oldest wild caught in Africa and India.
Records from Babylon and Assyria, dating back to about 4,000 years ago refer to sesame.
The area of roasted sesame seeds recovered from archaeological excavations dates from 3500-3050 BC.
Thomas Fuller (1608 -16/8/1661) in his work mentions the sesame seed trade between Mesopotamia and what is now Pakistan and India in 2000 BC. . Other reports claim that sesame was planted in Egypt during the Ptolemiac period. Ancient Egyptian bibliographies said that Papyrus Ebers (about 3600 years ago), sesame was called “sesemt” as a medicinal plant.
Archaeological reports from Turkey show that sesame was planted and pressed to extract oil at least 2750 years ago in Urartu’s empire.
Ancient sesame is widely planted in arid areas on the edge of the desert, where no other crops have grown. Sesame has been called a ‘survival’ crop.
This is a domesticated tree in tropical regions around the world and is grown for edible seeds due to its high fat and protein content. In addition, sesame is also used as medicine.
Sesame is very drought-tolerant, partly due to its extensive root system. However, it requires proper humidity for germination and early development. Moisture before planting and flowering period, fruit set is the most important.
In South America, sesame was introduced from Africa after European discoveries in the Americas in 1492 (introduced by Chritophecoloms, Portuguese and Spanish).
Since the 1950s, the expanded production of sesame in the US has been concentrated in Texas, with areas ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 acres (4,000-8,000 hectares) in recent years. However, the production of sesame seeds in the US did not meet the demand of domestic consumption, the US had to import many sesame seeds and sesame oil products abroad, mainly in South America.
About sesame seeds
Currently there are thousands of varieties of cultivated sesame (Sesamum indicum), they have also been classified according to many different species. However, with modern molecular genetics, although sesame plants have many different shapes, flowers, fruits, seeds, and seeds, they are still different varieties of cultivated sesame (Sesamum indicum).
Bright white and yellow sesame seeds are common in Europe, the Americas, Western Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The darker sesame seeds are mainly produced in China and Southeast Asia. Africa produces a variety of sesame seeds.
The cultivated sesame varieties have adapted to a variety of soil. High-yielding crops grow best on fertile soil, are well drained, and have a near neutral pH. However, this is a pioneer crop in the soil of poor nutrition and drought, so it is a hunger eradication and poverty reduction crop in difficult agricultural production areas of Africa and Asia.
About productivity of sesame
The average yield of sesame in the world is only about 490 kg / ha. The most effective sesame seed farms in the world are in the European Union with an average yield of 5.5 tons per hectare in 2010; Italy reports the best national average yield of 7.2 tons per hectare.
There is a big gap in the productivity of sesame seedlings, which is a barrier in knowledge of cultivation, breeding and high technology use.
Production and trade
In 2010, the world planted 7.8 million hectares of sesame, harvesting about 3.84 million tons of sesame seeds. The largest countries producing sesame seeds are Burma, India, China, Ethiopia …
Japan is the world’s largest importer of sesame and sesame oil. Sesame oil, especially from roasted seeds, is an important ingredient in traditional Japanese cooking. China is the second largest importer of sesame seeds and sesame oil in the world after Japan. Other major importing countries of sesame seeds and sesame oil are the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey and France.
Handling sesame seeds after planting
After harvesting, sesame seeds are cleaned and kept intact or peeled. In some countries, when the sesame seeds have been hulled, they are passed through an electronic color sorting system to remove other colored seeds to ensure that the seeds are completely pure. Distinctive colored or differently sized grains are used to press the oil. Therefore, pure colored sesame seeds have higher selling prices than those of low-tech countries.
Sesame seeds are sometimes sold in detached seed form – decorticated. This type usually appears to decorate the upper part of the cakes in countries with developed economies.
Export of sesame seeds and sesame oil is very different in price. The importing countries of sesame seeds and sesame oil have strict quality criteria.
The current requirement for sesame is to improve farming technology to overcome productivity barriers. At the same time, it is necessary to change the processing technology to meet the international standar.