Farmers in areas of Uganda are being asked to plant tea instead of sorghum. The government will supply subsidized seedlings and will open a processing factory that will buy the leaves. The main motive is that tea earns double the income of sorghum. That may be, and diversification is a good thing, but I wonder whether the income from tea will buy as much nutrition as the sorghum it replaces.
Coconut brandy
A bottle of brandy “distilled from the essence of the coconut flower and … matured for a minimum of two years” is going for sale for a million bucks. Talk about value adding!
Coconut information exchange
Google Groups and Yahoo Groups are really useful tools for networking and exchanging information on specific topics. There’s a Google Group on coconut which is really active and lively, and definitely worth keeping an eye on – and indeed joining – if you’re into things Cocos. All the more so as there’s a new addition to the information available, in the form of what promises to be a regular update from COGENT, the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network, on its poverty reduction activities. You can see the first newsletter here. Among various Yahoo Groups on coconut subjects there is the “People and Coconuts” group, which is described as being for people with “interesting coconut conundrums requiring answers.”
Climate change and wine
Over at CABI’s blog there’s a great post summarizing some recent research on the possible effects of climate change on the wine industry. The grapevine is very sensitive to temperature and rainfall, making it a useful indicator of environmental change. Predictably, there will be both winners and losers among the traditional wine growing areas. Not quite sure how the average consumer will come out of it, but wine bores will have a whole new area of expertise to get to grips with.
Farming in the rainforest can preserve biodiversity
Mongabay writes about a newly published study of cacao farming in Indonesia. The bottom line seems to be that while clearing the forest is more profitable, at least short term, growing cacao under a thinned canopy maintains the diversity of wild species and reduces environmental impacts. But some economic incentive may be needed to promote this option over clear-felling. That option, they note, could be premium priced shade-grown chocolate, just like premium coffee.