Turkey offers D-8 agrobiodiversity conservation help

There’s a bit of follow-up on the news from a few weeks back that Turkey was planning to build another genebank. At a meeting of the D-8 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria), Turkey’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehmet Mehdi Eker proposed that “the seed bank to be established within D8 countries be housed in Turkey.” So it will be a sort of regional backup facility? Hard to say. The plot thickens.

New Scientist on how to get through the next 100 years

An article in New Scientist tells us how to survive the 21st century, what with climate change and all.

There’s a paragraph on agriculture ((The links are provided as in the original article. I didn’t add them myself.)):

Since water will be scarce, food production will need to be far more efficient. Hot growing seasons will be more common, meaning that livestock will become increasingly stressed, and crop growing seasons will shorten, according to David Battisti of the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues (Science, vol 323, p 240). We will need heat and drought-tolerant crop varieties, they suggest. Rice may have to give way to less thirsty staples such as potatoes.

The interactive map also has stuff on agriculture. Check out in particular Southern Europe, where, apparently, “[a]lthough agriculture will be largely impossible, hardy animals such as goats will be kept on the fringes of the desert.”

Who you gonna call?

If you’re in the Pacific region and you’ve got a problem in the following areas, that is:

  • Animal health & production
  • Biosecurity & trade facilitation
  • Crop production
  • Genetic resources
  • Forests and trees
  • Forestry & agriculture diversification
  • Information & communication and extension
  • Plant health
  • Agriculture & forestry policy

SPC, that’s who, by email. Great to see my old colleagues in the Land Resources Division in Fiji setting this up. It builds on the pioneering work of PestNet in the region. Best wishes to them all.

Nibbles: Cacao, Forbes, Gum arabic, Bees, Private sector, Kumquats, Maize, Edible weeds, Herbs, Medicinals, Banana wine, Cachaca. Obamas’ dog

Jigawa experiments with cattle diversity

About 30,000 cows drawn from different species will be used in Jigawa state for artificial insemination experiment before the end of May this year, the state commissioner of agriculture, Alhaji Nasidi Ali has said.

Ok, I suppose he meant breeds rather than species. Although a follow up quote from the commissioner adds that: “We want to change the species and varieties of cows in Jigawa state.” Anyway, one has to wonder what this will do to whatever local breeds ((There are also lists of local breeds from ILRI and FAO.)) roam around Jigawa State, Nigeria. The recent State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture did not paint a rosy global picture, you’ll recall.