Welcome to WagaBima
Introduction
Wagabima website is initially built to share the experiences acquired from the small coconut land situated in the remote area in Sri Lanka. The land originally comprised of old coconut trees and some other trees such as Teak, Mahogany, and breadfruit etc. Latter, new coconut plants have been planted under the existing old trees. At the second stage, Banana and Pepper were cultivated as intercrops by dividing the land into two. At present, three major cultivations are ongoing successfully in the land. Accordingly, more pages of website are to discuss the activities undertaken, problems encountered and solutions applied at each stage of purchasing of a land, preparation, choosing and purchasing of plants, cultivating, maintaining and harvesting.
Further, the website displays a selected plant with its image and brief description including value and beliefs prevailing among rural communities in Sri Lanka.It is sure that this will be useful for researchers, students, and farmers, since the availability of some information is very rare.
The cultural and social activities such as legends, games, performances and events which were common to the ancient rural agricultural communities in several decades ago are likely to disappear from the societies at present. However, a few of them are only available with elders living in villages in verbally. some contents of those activities may differ from province to province or district to district or village to village . However, several pages of this site are assigned to such information for the benefits of interested people.
Black pepper (ගම්මිරිස් - Gammiris)
Black pepper is a common cultivation in the Galle, Matara, Kegalle, Kurunegala, and Rathnapura districts of the Southern, Central, and Sabaragamuwa provinces of Sri Lanka. This plant is cultivated mainly for its peppercorns. Peppercorns are harvested when they become mature and ripe. After separating the seeds from the peppercorns, Sri Lankan villagers spread them on mats under sunlight to dry. Dried pepper can be stored for a longer period and is then ready for sale.
Pepper has significant Ayurvedic value and is used in cooking all over the world. In Sri Lanka, it is used in preparing curry dishes and Ayurvedic medicines. In addition, kithul tappers use pepper to treat the flower buds of the kithul palm. Pepper is also used in preparing soups, sambol, eggs, and many other dishes. Furthermore, Sri Lankan villagers have a tradition of adding a small amount of pepper powder when eating ripe jackfruit, known as “Waraka.”
Since the Ayurvedic value of all parts of the pepper plant is well known among Sri Lankan villagers, they also use pepper leaves in traditional oil treatments for the body. It is noteworthy to mention some vanishing beliefs related to pepper harvesting. Some pepper cultivators in Sri Lankan villages believe that a higher yield can be expected in the following season if peppercorn vines are placed on walking paths where they can be touched by human feet.