Fruits and nuts

March 20, 2012March 20, 2012

Samoan breadfruit comes to Ghana

I did not see anything in the Ghanaian media during my time there last week about the recent introduction of two breadfruit varieties to the country, though it has made the Samoan media recently (as well as late last year). But I did see the seedlings in the Bunso nursery of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. And very nice they looked too, ready for distribution to interested farmers to supplement the limited diversity they currently manage. Huge potential in this crop.

March 19, 2012March 20, 2012

Nibbles: Treaty in Malaysia, Vavilov in Sardinia, Vegetative crops, Aquaculture, Indian AnGR, Seed Savers, Ancient Egypt and thereabouts, Quinoa in Chile

Michael Halewood in Genebank Policy Hell.
Vavilov in Genebank Database Hell.
A guide through Clonal Crops Conservation Hell.
Pakistan contemplates genebank for carp “pure line and improved stairs for SAARC countries.” Bicycles next, I suppose. But will Ghana follow suit?
Meanwhile across the border, India is putting resources into livestock conservation at both national and state level.
Italian broccoli variety moves to Florida and makes the big time.
And ancient Egyptian gardens make the big time in Amsterdam. Too bad it wont be possible to exchange seeds.
I bet those ancient Egyptians had taro. They certainly had wheat and barley.
But not quinoa, alas, despite what Thor Heyerdahl might have thought.

March 17, 2012March 17, 2012

Diverse plantain chips!

Plantain chips!, a photo by luigig on Flickr.

One of the many perks associated with holding meetings in West Africa.

March 7, 2012November 20, 2017

Nibbles: Eyzaguirre speaks, Hunger, India in Africa, Aquaculture, Mutation breeding, Climate info, Micronutrients, Peanuts, Crops from space, CIMMYT in Africa, Cassava beer, Heirloom onion, Coffee research, Newton’s apple, Gastronomica

An anthropologists speaks about landscapes.
ILRI says: “Landscapes, I’ve got your landscapes right here.”
India makes its play for African agricultural landscapes. I hope there will be scorecards and women. And access to Indian genebank holdings…
Will there be fish though?
And will India be pushing its mutation-bred varieties in Africa? Not that there’s anything wrong with them.
Or using climate information?
Or mining technology for that matter.
Surely there will be dual-purpose groundnuts.
Doesn’t India have a satellite?
~~Meanwhile, CIMMYT is making its own African play. Maybe some of the stuff it is doing there could be useful in India too?~~ Two dead links
~~Africa could teach India some other stuff too.~~ Dead link.
Pretty sure this nearly-extinct-onion-rescued story is totally irrelevant to both India and Africa.
Unlike coffee research.
I don’t suppose I can interest anyone in a not very nice tasting, disease-prone but historical apple?
And speaking of historical connections… Well that was quite a journey.

March 5, 2012November 20, 2017

Nibbles: Commons, Tom Wagner, CGIAR, Domestication presentation, Sophisticated urbanites, Vavilov’s potatoes in the news, Perennial crops, African drought, Aegean lathyrism, Heirlooms

The vocabulary of the commons.
An interview with Tom Wagner, a great tomato and potato breeder.
The CGIAR Consortium has a newsletter, with bits in it about what they’re doing on agrobiodiversity, genebanks (such as this one), all that stuff. But I guess news of this big Africa-wide food security project came in too late. Oh, here’s another one, on ICRISAT’s new chickpea.
Pat Heslop-Harrison on domestication. I am reliably informed he once extracted DNA from a fruit smoothie using nothing but household utensils and cleaning chemicals. Pat, is there a video?
Urban ag in the Philippines. For some reason, there’s been a ton of this sort of urban food stuff on the tubes lately. Like this for instance. And this (compare current orchards in London with historical ones). I may just have to blog about it. Oh dear, I just have.
The Glasgow Herald heralds the importance of Vavilov’s potatoes.
Long post with lots of different bits of info on lots of perennial crops.
Monitoring drought in Africa via pretty maps. And more pretty maps in search of a use.
Ancient Aegean lathyrism? Dirk alerted.
A keeper of seeds does his stuff near Pittsburgh.