It is all too easy to concentrate on the bad news out of Africa, so for a change on Biodiversity Day I’d like to point to three feel-good stories about how Africans are using biodiversity to make better lives for themselves. Via Timbuktu Chronicles come pieces on traditional medicine in Mali and local leafy greens in Kenya and Tanzania. And there’s also a World Vision report out today on how farmers in Tanzania are turning to an unusual crop.
Fermenting revolution
Sandor Katz wrote a classic book a few years back about the history and practice of fermentation as a technique for preparing, enhancing and preserving food. Catch an interview with him at Grist. Let’s not forget that agricultural biodiversity includes that pesky microflora.
Dietary diversification for teachers
I guess it’s a bit old, but I was impressed by an FAO manual for teachers of agriculture, food and nutrition in Africa, in particular its chapter on diversity in diets. The message on agricultural biodiversity and its role in healthy diets has to start going out as early as possible.
Ancient genebank dug up?
Is it possible to trace an intellectual connection from Roman horti to the medieval and renaissance physic garden to colonial botanic gardens such as Kew to the modern genebank? Possibly. If so, news of an archaeological discovery not far from where I’m sitting will be of importance to all who take an interest in agricultural biodiversity.
Cotton genetic resources conserved in Texas
You thought Lubbock, Texas was only famous as the birthplace of Buddy Holly? Think again. It’s a veritable hothouse of cotton genetic resources conservation and use. Not much of what you might call news in the Eurekalert piece, but interesting nonetheless. For example, did you know that there are three international cotton germplasm collections, in Lubbock, France and Uzbekistan? Or that breeders are scouring wild cottons for the genes to make the crop more environmentally friendly?