Author: Jeremy Cherfas

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Green Revolution did not bypass Africa; it failed

Grain, an international NGO that “promotes the sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity” has issued a somewhat jaundiced review of the recent anouncement by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation of a new Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. Grain insists that the first Green Revolution did not bypass Africa: “It failed. It was unpopular and ineffective.”  The NGO goes on to say that on the evidence available, the new effort will fail for the same reasons, because the approach it adopts is unchanged.

What do you think? Do African farmers need new technology, such as improved varieties and fertilisers? Or are there other approaches that will help societies there to develop and feed themselves more effectively?

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Pouring money into climate change

The Guardian in the UK reports on a new plan to tackle climate change and agriculture, to be launched today in Washington DC. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research will spend about UD 400 million a year “to help agricultural experts develop crops that can withstand heat and drought, find more efficient farming techniques and make better use of increasingly fragile soil and scarce water supplies,” according to the paper. Robert Ziegler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute, one of the CGIAR centres, did not specifically mention agrobiological diversity, but it is safe to say that the kinds of developments envisaged by the CGIAR will not be possible without making considerable use of existing biodiversity.

Later … there are CGIAR press releases here and here that give an official view.

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The lure of the allergen-free peanut

Once again, the appeal of the magic bullet seems to over-ride sensibilities. Scientists at the University of Florida have identified a variant of a peanut protein that is apparently less likely to cause an allergic reaction. This opens the prospect of being able to satisfy the peanut cravings of the more than 2.5 million people in North America and Europe who suffer peanut allergy. But imagine the nightmare of labeling, accidental contamination and downright fraud? There are some pretty choice labels around at the moment. I remember one that read something like “Made in a factory that never processes any kind of nuts” which strikes me as one up on “May contain nuts”. But “Contains ara h 3-im peanuts” doesn’t strike me as all that reassuring.

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Bananas at school

The Rainforest Alliance is tooting its own horn about the value of bananas as a teaching tool, in an item about its ideas for using the banana as a basis for several school activities. Intended for young children in non-tropical countries, the ideas struck me as pretty entertaining, and infinitely expandable. Bananas as the basis of surveys and measurement, geography, history, even a bit of botany. There are other possibilities too, only hinted at or completely ignored. But wouldn’t it be cool if other crops were used this way, not as object lessons in themselves, but as the basis for studying all sorts of things?

Grosmichel
That, by the way, is Gros Michel, which I had the pleasure of tasting for the first time earlier this year. Just the shift from Gros Michel to Cavendish opens up all sorts of pedagocic possibilities.