photosynthesis Plants absorb sunlight and turn that energy into food; the process is known as photosynthesis. This is a compound word made up of photo (which means light) and synthesis (which means to put together). Think of a synthesizer, which puts together different sounds to produce music. A plant uses light to put together chemical compounds and turn them into carbohydrates: food. Although the word can be used to describe any process that uses light to connect compounds, the word is almost always used to describe a plant's method of making food.
Hereâs a great resource on growing lettuces (permaculture) in a tropical climate. Herbs. Cilantro, Basil, Italian flat leaf parsley, and rosemary thrive well even under tropical conditions and without needing a high elevation. Legumes. Mung bean is the easiest to grow and will make a great cover crop.
Crop production covers a wide range of crops which include both cash and food crops. The crops grown include: sorghum (sorghum bicolor); maize (zea mays); cassava (manihot esculenta), common beans (phaseolus vulgaris); field peas (pisum sativum); potato (solanum tuberosum); finger millet (Eleusine coracna) and coffee (coffea canephora or Robusta coffee) and bananas (Musa spp).