Author: Luigi Guarino

Posted on

Improved varieties in West Africa

This just in from FAO’s Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service (AGPS).

Please find below links to the West African Catalogue of Plant Species and Varieties (COAFEV). This document was prepared in the framework of the West African Seed Regulation Harmonization, which was supported by AGP. This process involved 17 West and Central African countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) and has led to the adoption of a harmonized seed regulatory framework by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers on 18 May 2008 in Abuja.

This framework provides for the establishment of the COAFEV, which is the list of varieties whose seeds can be produced and commercialized in the member states without restriction. The objective of such a system is to facilitate West African farmers’ access to a greater diversity of varieties and to foster cross-border seed trade.

English version.

French version.

Posted on

Pundit in the Punjab

On the Front Lines of the Global Food Crisis is the title of what promises to be a great series of posts over at Slate. I nibbled an earlier one a couple of days back, but I think this deserves more attention. The pieces are by Mira Kamdar, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and the author of Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the Largest Democracy and the Future of Our World. She’s touring India, and the third and latest in her despatches from the front lines is from Ludhiana in the Punjab:

If a single institution can take credit for bringing the Green Revolution to Punjab, it is Punjab Agricultural University.

Posted on

Paean to singular agricultures

A puff piece in EurekAlert alerted me to what looks to be a very interesting book about the wonderful world of traditional agriculture:

These forms of agriculture are often highly idiosyncratic and take up only a tiny portion of the Earth’s total cultivated surface. Yet they stand out owing to their ability to adapt to a constantly changing natural environment and to the diversity of farming practices they adopt.

Problem is, no details on the book are given: no title, no authors. Fortunately, this led me to the original IRD release, in French. Which led me to the book itself, though again details on the book are at a premium, I must say.