It is 16.21 hrs here in Rome, and there’s no sign of any activity over at the World Bank’s discussion. We know they had questions, and not just from us. They must have answers, surely. I can barely wait to get home and refresh my browser, again.
Get the straight dope from the horse’s mouth
We’ve been apprised, almost certainly by some sort of automated process, ((And I quote: “I saw your blog entry on agriculture, and I thought you might be interested either in highlighting this on your blog, or submitting a question yourself.”)) that the author of the World Bank’s 2008 World Development Report, which focused on agriculture, will take your questions in a live, thrusting, very web 2.0 effort later today. You can submit questions here. We have.
Genetic Resources Action International examines A Green Revolution for Africa
GRAIN briefs the world on AGRA; Kofi talking to Bill.
Ethiopian farmers beating pulses
Reuters has a video (about 7 minutes long, and you’ll need a fast connection) about farmers in Ethiopia turning to beans and other pulses as a replacement earner for coffee, which has been buffeted by global production shifts. The hero of the story is Hailu Worku, who does indeed seem to be a pretty impressive farmer. But he has 20 hectares. How typical is that of the “smallholder” farmers that a government spokesman says are the ones growing all those beans for export? And I wasn’t clear from the video whether the farmers are growing beans as part of a rotation with their grain crops. The story mentions an Italian company that is buying up lots of beans for export and a farmer cooperative, which returns 70% of profits to the farmers. Hailu Worke sells to both; now that’s diversity as insurance.
Tangled bank
Tangled Bank 94 is up at Life before Death, full of biological diversity and goodness. Best part about it? The host is a bee-keeper! (I think I may have apiarist-envy.) She hasn’t actually posted on bees since 28 September, but it is winter so there can’t be all that much to write. I would love to have an expert’s view on the latest news on Colony Collapse Disorder in the US, which is that it is not the result of bees imported from Australia carrying a virus imported from Israel.