April 29, 2011April 29, 2011 by Jeremy Cherfas

Nibbles: GM in Africa, Bananas and Dates, Nutrition

“The GM debate is about more than biosafety.” SciDev.net’s editor tells it like it is.
Jeremy gets into a historical tiz about turning dates into bananas.
One take on a report for USAID suggesting food aid could be more nutritious.

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1. A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
2. And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
3. Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
4. Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
5. Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
6. 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.”
7. There’s diversity in asparagus too.
8. Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
9. Even big international genebanks.
10. Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
11. But some are in trouble.
12. Though others are coming back.
Published on November 7, 2024