Download - Agriculture Portugal
Cucujães is located inthe municipality ofOliveira de Azeméisin the district ofAveiro in Portugal.
Cucujães is a fertile region and privileged conditions, which attracted many ancient people. Cucujães instituted by D. Afonso Henriques in July 7, 1139, was donated to the Benedictine monastery in the same town. Cucujães gained the status of small town in June 11, 1927 and it is considered, in our days, an important industrial and commercial Portuguese centre. With monuments and places worth a visit, it offers us the cloister of the monastery, the sacristy of the Church, the Bridge of Pica (a Roman style bridge built in the sixteenth century over the river Ul, the Santa Luzia’schapel, the Gandarinha, the magnificent villas of Picoto, Sol, Barreiro, and Misericórdia, among others.
Benedictine monastery:
Cucujães:
Corn Cabbage Lettuce Peas Parsley
Carrot Turnip Onions Potato Beans
In Cucujães, we grow corn, cabbages, lettuces, peas, parsley,turnips, onions, carrots, potatoes and beans.Here, we have a Traditional Agriculture.
It aims private consumption,it has a rudimentarycharacter: farmers use verysimple techniques, tools andnatural fertilizer. It has lowproductivity, it is carriedout in small parcels of landand several crops are grownat the same time.
Characteristics: Traditional farming
Size of the state Small properties
Variety of crops Polyculture
Use of the land Extensive
Farming techniques Rudimentary: hoe,
plough, manure and crop
rotation
Destination of the
production
Home consumption and
local markets
Income / Productivity Low / Low
Lettuce is a vegetable cultivated
annual or biennial, it has been
used as food since about 500 BC
Originating in the eastern
Mediterranean, is widely
cultivated for consumption in
salads, with numerous varieties
of leaves, colors, shapes, sizes
and textures.
Growing lettuces in small gardens
and fields is also very usual in
Cucujães.
The nuts come the husks, thethorny fruit of the Europeanchestnut.
Presumably chestnut is nativefrom Asia Minor closelyfollowing the history ofWestern civilization for over100,000 years. The chestnutgave a major caloriccontribution to the prehistoricman’s diet as well as to theanimals’ diet.
The chestnut trees alsoabound in Cucujães.
Wheat is a grassy plant grownall over the world, and it isoriginal from Syria, Jordan,Turkey and Iraq. It is, globally,after maize, the second majorcereal crop, followed by rice.The wheat grain is a basic foodused to make flour and, withthis, the bread. It is also usedto feed livestock and as aningredient in the manufactureof beer.
This crop can also be seen inCucujães.
Cabbage is the common name
of several cultivated varieties
of the species Brassica
olerácea. This plant is widely
used in cooking as a
vegetable, in the soup (like
kale, for “caldo verde” – a
very typical Portuguese soup),
preserved and in side dishes,
among others.
In Cucujães this vegetable is
irreplaceable in the families’
gardens.
Corn is a well known a
cereal, cultivated in vast
areas of the globe. Corn is
extensively used as human
food or to feed the animals,
due to its nutritional
qualities.
It is one of the most
nutritious food there is.
In Cucujães there are many
fields with this cereal.
Grape cultivation beganabout 6000-8000 yearsago in the Middle East.An original species fromAsia, the vine is grown inall temperate regionsand in Cucujães it is alsogrown by severalfamilies.