Markets, and getting to them

Fairtrade is all well and good, ((Though just plain and simple trade would be enough for some, I expect.)) but African agriculture needs roads too.

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Nice map comparison of Bamako.

The Geographical Institute in Bamako DOES have a reasonable map of Bamako (although not all of the urban sprawl is on it), but it is not available digitally is a far as I know.

Paul Collier in his highly readable The Bottom Billion has much to say about what African agriculture and economies need, including diversification out of a narrow range of primary commodities that have kept people locked into poverty.

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Fresh Nibbles

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.

Published on November 7, 2024