[5] It is also cultivated as a crop plant in Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.

The versatile, mildly sweet oil from the seeds (marketed as ‘oyster-nut oil’ or ‘koémé de Zanzibar’) is used in cooking, cosmetics, soap and candle-making, and as a gastric and anti-rheumatism medicine; it is believed, by Chaga people of Tanzania, to be beneficial to give a tonic made from the seeds to women who have just given birth.

The left-over cake of seeds from oil pressing is rich in fat and protein, and used as livestock fodder.

[5] The fatty acids which are found in the oil are here broken down by their average percentages: Historically, few pests seem to negatively affect Telfairia pedata very seriously; an exception is the pentatomid shield bug (Piezosternum calidum), which has been known to ruin crops growing in Uganda.

of root-eating cyst nematodes; and insects, such as grasshoppers and termites,[5] which can devour the entire above-ground portions of plants during a swarm.