We’ve written before about assisted migration — giving plants (and animals) a helping hand to ensure that they can keep up with shifts in the areas in which they can thrive. “Managed relocation” is becoming a hot topic, which may be why the Chicago Botanic Garden is holding a one-day seminar on 11 June 2010. Details are currently sparse, but if you go, and especially if anyone says anything about crops or wild relatives, please share a report.
Diverse points of view on feeding Africa
We like to embrace different points of view here ourselves, though we also like to think there’s a certain consistency to most of what we say and do. Maybe that’s why I find it strange that a single blog, on a single day ((Admittedly 1 April.)) can feature two such divergent posts. One — Homegrown Solutions to Alleviating Hunger and Poverty — is a thorough look at the role of indigenous fruit and vegetable crops in delivering a healthy and nutritious diet. The other — Breeding for Climate Change — links, almost without comment, to a report on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s project to deliver just two (one conventionally bred, one genetically engineered) drought-resistant maize varieties to sub Saharan Africa.
I have no doubt that genetic engineering, precision farming and other high-tech tools of modern intensive farming can supply all the calories the world will need even when it hosts 9 billion people. I do doubt that the 9 billion will actually get those calories. And I know that calories alone are not enough. People need nourishment, not merely calories.
Shortage of olive oil threatened
Disturbing news from The Economist:
It is becoming clear that reserves of olive oil will peak in the coming decade, as climate change wipes out most of the groves in the Mediterranean, the main production zone. The likes of Turkey will struggle to make up supply. Russia, however, expects to profit handsomely: its steppes, freed of permafrost, will soon host vast olive groves; a series of pipelines will send extra-virgin supplies westwards.
Somewhat disappointingly, The Economist seems to have taken no account of the benefits for the south of england. As we reported here earlier, home-grown olives are now on sale in the UK; can oil exports be far behind?
Battling it out over drought-tolerant maize in Africa
Maize in Africa is becoming a bit of a battlefield in the agri-culture wars. The BBC has a radio programme on the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project, which is a partnership between national programmes, CIMMYT and Monsanto, with a lot of work being done in Kenya. Predictably, it is very biotechnology-oriented, with marker-assisted selection and genetic modification to the fore.
At the other end of the spectrum, Scientific American has an article on a GEF project (funding comes also from Norway and the Netherlands) at Sakai, Kenya which is very different.
Agricultural extension officers now offer seasonal and locally relevant climate predictions explained in simple terms in Kikamba, the regional tribal language. They are now producing a handbook to translate weather predictions into practical advice about what and when to plant.
The project has also helped farmers set up a seed bank. A group of about 40 men will collect, process and preserve the best local seeds and loan them out again during the next planting season, slowly selecting for the best climate-adapted varieties.
Sakai’s farmers are hedging their bets. Increasingly, they are diversifying their crops by planting more drought-tolerant grains, peas and beans.
One wonders whether the two projects are even aware of each other, let alone talking. Maybe someone will tell us.
Nibbles: Truffles, Botanicals, Cell phones, Child nutrition, Chocolate, Georgia
- Truffle genome (about to be) sequenced. Pigs unimpressed.
- Lunar influence on botanicals. Fascinating.
- Cell phones for germplasm documentation and taxonomic identification.
- Video of John Hoddinott of IFPRI discussing award-winning Lancet article on the effects of child nutrition on adult income.
- Climate-ready cacao, anyone?
- GEF agrobiodiversity project in Georgia a success story. See why.