Author: Jeremy Cherfas

Posted on

From the well-digger’s mouth

I like hearing the views of people who know what it is like on the ground, even if — especially if? — they have a strong point of view. I probably don’t come across enough of them.

Wells for Zoë is a small Irish humanitarian organization that helps people in Malawi to dig wells and manage water. After listening to a news item about a conference in Malawi one of the well-diggers felt compelled to set the record straight with a list of recommendations. I don’t agree with all of them, but this is clearly someone who knows the scene there.

What is needed are community-based systems of cooperative family farms, organized to market for local and regional distribution and re-integrating livestock wherever feasible term rehabilitative approach. Malawi needs a systemic approach to both restore its ecosystems and to produce enough food sustainably for its people.

There are lots of specific suggestions too. More of this and less globe-trotting punditry would go a long way towards helping Malawi feed itself.

Posted on

Coffee in Rwanda

A recent paper from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University of looks at the specialty coffee industry in Rwanda. Among its conclusions:

  • the specialty coffee industry in Rwanda aids in local poverty alleviation and job creation;
  • the specialty coffee industry provides opportunities for developing business and management skills;
  • the actions of specific coffee entrepreneurs have affected the lives of ordinary Rwandans; and
  • entrepreneurial activities within the Rwandan specialty coffee industry provide Rwandans with opportunities to interact in ways that may promote post-conflict reconciliation.

It is a long read, but with a good cup of Joe by your side the time will fly by.

Posted on

Biofuels backlash

Despite the lack of recent posts on the topic, I haven’t lost interest in biofuels and the food vs fuel dimension of that tussle. But there has been so much blather out there that it has been hard to make any sense of it. Focus is needed, and that’s something we find it hard to do as we flit from topic to diverse topic. Fortunately, others are less easily distracted.

The Low-input High Diversity Biofuels blog — which seems to be based at Oklahoma State University in the US, is one such. As the name suggests, it is not exactly enamoured of the alternative High Input Low Diversity approach. Several recent postings give more details. There’s one pointing out that HILD may yet gain traction: “Despite the documented social and environmental costs of biofuels, the vested agricultural interests are politically too strong. The momentum for biofuels is far too great.” Others address the recent OECD report on biofuels, making biodiversity preservation part of biofuels policy and so on. One to watch.

Posted on

A bit of cash for biodiversity

This looks potentially rather interesting.

The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Energy invite applications for the establishment or continuation of “International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups” (ICBG) to address the interdependence of biodiversity exploration for potential applications in health, agriculture and energy, with investments in research capacity that support sustainable use of these resources, the knowledge to conserve them, and equitable partnership frameworks among research and development organizations in the U.S. and low and middle income countries.

That’s from the announcement of about US$3-4 million of new funding available in the US. It’s hard to know exactly what it might cover, but it is nice to see agriculture in there explicitly, along with health and, somewhat less appealing, energy. I found it at the University of Madison-Wisconsin, but you can go straight to the government source. And, hey, let us know if anyone lands a big grant.

Posted on

Plucked from the Tangled Bank

The latest Tangled Bank (a blog carnival all about science) is up ((So, welcome anyone who arrived from there.)) with a couple of posts of potential interest to agriculture. Walking the Berkshires describes how to rationally decide how invasive a weed might be. And if you’re interested in pests and diseases, Discovering Biology in a Digital World will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the screwworm, one of my personal all-time favourites.