- The most beautiful rice farm in the world. No, wait.
- Jasmine tea gets protection. But does it need it? Let’s ask the South Africans what they’re doing with their tea.
- Today’s funny fruit picture. Think it’s one of these Cuban mutants?
- How many micronutrients in a Mexican Christmas dinner? And how many in a British one, featuring parsnips of course.
- People’s University has online Appreciation Programme on Sustainable Management of Biodiversity starting January 2013.
- First farmers were first carpenters.
- And today’s genome story is very seasonally appropriate. Oh no, here’s another one!
- Malaysia implements the ITPGRFA. Cool, but why is that even news?
- School sends okra seeds to Haiti. But… No, I’m not playing the Grinch on this one, it’s too sweet.
Nibbles: Xmas trees, Xmas parasites, Resilience, Pitogo bananas, Crowdsourcing, Writing, Chickpea bread, Seed laws, Futures, Cassava genomics
- Fir trees holding their value. It must be Christmas.
- Mistletoe is good for trees. Is it still Christmas?
- An indicator framework for assessing agroecosystem resilience. Santa is being good to us this year.
- “Banana-shaped” takes on a whole new meaning.
- How to do crowdsourcing, right? Right!
- How to write good about agricultural research.
- Testing other kinds of grain and other kinds of bread.
- The East African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation comes in for some stick over draft policy on plant variety protection laws. This deserves way more than a Nibble. Perhaps some well-informed policy wonks will chime in.
- Blame 18th century Japanese rice traders for the futures markets.
- Who do I blame for Cassavabase?
Help researchers get their priorities right
Would you like to influence the future direction of research on roots, tubers and bananas? Course you would. And now you can, thanks to a priority setting exercise being carried out by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas. The ProMusa website has the full details: researchers
are … looking beyond yields to estimate the impact on poverty, health, gender equity and environmental sustainability.
It starts with mapping to locate the places where “research has the greatest potential to alleviate poverty and increase food security”.
The top constraints in these target areas will then be matched with research options. The impact, over the next 20 years, of these research options will be assessed using different methods, depending on the indicator, and the findings will be used to guide research investment decisions.
So now you know, and you have no excuse.
If your interest is bananas and plantains, then head on over to the ProMusa page that will guide you to a survey in English, French and Spanish. For other crops – but inexplicably not bananas nor the “minor” roots and tubers – the RTB website is the place to go.
Anyone for taro?
Nibbles: Invest in farmers, Invest in cassava, Invest in a writer
Nothing to see here, move along edition:
- FAO calls for “farmer-centred approach to investment for agriculture”. I.e. more money for us.
- Cornell gets US$25.2M for “Next Generation Cassava Breeding”. I.e. more money for research.
- IITA clones Cornell press-release, knocks out hyperlinks.
Nibbles: Survival seeds, Turkish agrobiodiversity, Mainstreaming nutrition, Hot times for conservation, Ethiopian sesame, Conserved DNA
- Survival seed bank in the news again. Must be Christmas.
- Turkish nibbles: wine, pictachios. That wine one will no doubt run and run.
- How to make sure nutrition gets a seat at the agricultural development table. And Danny breaks it down for ya.
- What leads to spurts in conservation effort? In situ only, but instructive.
- Sesame is big business in Ethiopia.
- Boffins find yet another bit of DNA that will save the world.