How has Gataka changed in 20 years?, a set on Flickr.
Communications. Roads. Electricity. Water. Extension. Diversification. How difficult can rural development be?
Taro help is at hand
It was a couple of years ago that we started talking about the arrival of taro leaf blight in West Africa, and the possible role that resistant material from the Pacific might have in averting a catastrophe. Well:
On 21 August 2012, help came with the arrival of breeders’ lines from Samoa and PNG and varieties from countries in Asia.
We will be following their progress with much interest.
Agrobiodiversity surveys galore
Within days of each other, surveys have been announced on Who is working on agricultural biodiversity? and On-farm management of PGRFA. I don’t know if there’s a connection between the two. Is something brewing out there? I think we should be told.
How much would it cost to save chocolate?
The cacao community has a global strategy out for the conservation and sustainable use of cacao genetic resources.
In order to safeguard the security of cacao diversity, on which the world depends for cocoa production now and in the future, and to ensure its accessibility and sustainable use, the Global Strategy has estimated the cost of annual recurrent management activities at 1,832,736 USD.
Doesn’t seem so much to ensure the world doesn’t run out of chocolate, now does it.
A couple of CWRs on the brink
The Top 100 Threatened Species list just released by IUCN, including in a nifty online booklet with nice photos, includes two crop wild relatives: Dioscorea strydomiana from South Africa and Lathyrus belinensis from Turkey. The yam is down to 250 plants and is threatened by harvesting, the vetch down to 1,000, with building work encroaching the population. But in both cases, there is seed conserved ex situ. Surely there are some CWRs that are more threatened than that? Maybe even some wild tomatoes.