Topic Content:
- Resources from Plants
- food crops, cash crops, ornamental plants, medicinal plants, compost etc.
We can use vegetables that we grow for their leaves, fruits, stems, and roots. There are different types of plant resources. These include;
a. food crops
b. crops for textiles
c. cash crops
d. wood crops
e. medicinal plants.
f. ornamental plants
g. compost and Manure
a. Food Crops:
These are resources from the environment used mainly as food. They are categorized into:
1. Leafy vegetables: As you know, we eat these, either cooked or fresh, as salads. They provide us with minerals (including calcium and iron) and vitamins (particularly Vitamins A and C) which our bodies need. Examples include lettuce, Cabbage, Talinum, etc.
2. Fruits: Examples are peppers, tomatoes, okro, mangoes, bananas, pawpaws, dates, oranges, lemons, pineapples, etc. They provide the body with mineral salts and vitamins.

3. Seeds: Examples of seeds include beans, maize, millet, sorghum, rice, barley, and wheat. We eat many of them as cooked foods. They provide us with starch, fat, and protein. We use barley for brewing beer, and wheat to make flour, used in baking bread and cakes. We also use sorghum and maize to make some local drinks.
4. Underground crops: These include stem tubers or swollen stems such as yam, cocoyam, and Irish potato, root tubers such as cassava, sweet potato, carrot, radish, and bulbs like onions. They are called underground crops because they grow under the ground. They provide us mainly with starch.
5. Oil plants: Examples are oil palm, groundnut, cotton, olive, etc. We produce cooking oils from their seeds or fruits. The oil is also used for making margarine and other products.
b. Crops for Textiles:
These are crops that we used to make cloth, rope, baskets, and dyes.
1. Cloth: The fibres produced by cotton plants around the seeds are used for making cloth.
2. Ropes: Materials for sacks and nets are made from different kinds of plants, like sisal, sorrel plant, guinea hemp, and jute. We also obtain fibres from the Baobab, Bauhinia, and Greutvia.
3. Baskets: Palm leaves provide materials for making hats, bags, or baskets.
4. Dyes: We obtain dyes from many plants.

c. Cash Crops:
Cash crops are plants cultivated by the farmer for sale and to make a profit. They are also called export crops and they include;
1. Beverage crops: Beverages made from crops include alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine and spirits. Popular crops used in alcoholic beverages are sorghum, barley, rice, coconut, palms, grapes, sugarcane, maize etc.
Beverages also include non-alcoholic drinks such as tea, coffee, chocolate, fruit and vegetable juices. The common non-alcoholic beverage crops are coffee, tea, cocoa, sugarcane, sugar beet, coconut, lemon grass, etc.
2. Oil crops like oil palm, groundnut, cotton, olive, etc, are sold for an income.
d. Wood crops:
Wood crops provide us with hardwood which is used in the building of houses, furniture making, etc. Some provide us with softwood which is used for pulp and paper production. Plants also provide us with firewood which is a source of energyEnergy is the ability to do work. Energy exists in several forms such as heat, kinetic or mechanical energy, light, potential energy, and electrical energy. Units of Energy: The SI unit... More. Examples of wood crops are iroko, obeche, mahogany, etc.

e. Medicinal Plants:
The majority of medicines, both tablets, and syrups, as well as those in powder form, are derived from plant roots, barks, and leaves. Some plants can be prepared as herbs, for example, lemongrass, pawpaw leaves, etc. The herbs are used to cure some diseases like malaria, pile and heal wounds.

f. Ornamental Plants:
These are plants grown for decoration, rather than food or other by-products. They are usually grown in the flower garden for the display of their flowers. Examples are Tulips, Pride of Barbados, Rose Plants, etc.

g. Compost and Manure:
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used to fertilize and improve the soil. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plants. One of the most obvious choices, for making compost from plants, is any type of legumeA legume is any plant that bears its fruit inside a pod. Legume is an umbrella term that includes beans and pulses. Thus, all beans are considered a legumes, but not... More, like clover or alfalfa.