Genebanks

April 7, 2009April 7, 2009

Mexico City protects maize landraces

In an almighty panic about GM maize, the government of Mexico City has sprung energetically into action. The result is a “Declaration of Protection of the Maize Breeds of the Mexico Altiplano.” There are said to be “more than 60” maize landraces in the part of the Altiplano that falls within the confines of the Distrito Federal, which I assume is the area over which the Declaration will be applicable.

The Declaration includes provision for:

establishing a research programme to improve local maize breeds
supporting farmers who sow only native seeds
promoting the use of organic fertilizer and pesticides
banning of the purchase and distribution of transgenic maize in Mexico City
establishing a germplasm bank for the Altiplano’s maize seeds

I have a few questions about all this, but I’ll just pose one here. Has anyone asked the CIMMYT genebank, just outside Mexico City, whether by any chance it already has the Altiplano’s maize landraces?

April 6, 2009

A dangerous business

Farmers are finding themselves in the front lines. In Gaza. And on the southern island of Sulu in the Philippines. And no doubt elsewhere around the world. The problems in Sulu also affect the nearby Zamboanga peninsula, home of one of the major coconut genebanks of the world, at the Philippines Coconut Authority‘s Zamboanga Research Centre.

April 4, 2009April 4, 2009

Nibbles: Student, Sea cucumbers, Reindeer, Climate change, Urban beeking, Taro diseases, Markets, Apples

Adam Forbes updates us on his travels in Ethiopia and Peru in search of seeds. Check out his pix too.
“…sea cucumber populations across the globe, from Asia to the Galapagos, are increasingly in trouble.” Oh dear.
Satellites help reindeer herders by looking for snow melt. Sounds very cost-effective.
IFPRI says agriculture will be “dramatically” affected by climate change. Oh dear.
Keeping bees in cities.
All you ever wanted to know about taro diseases. With pic goodness! Via.
Walking London’s markets.
Navarre: “276 varieties of autochthonous apple tree have been described.”

March 29, 2009March 27, 2009

Zoos in trouble

The financial mess is wreaking havoc with the funding of zoos in the US. Conservation of globally important fauna, you say?

When you’re the mayor of Philadelphia or governor of New York or Minnesota House minority leader, and you’re trying to keep libraries open and children insured and state troopers paid, the preservation of, say, South African’s Humboldt penguin can seem a little less pressing.

Entertainment and education?

…the first is a no-brainer for financial paring, and the second has already been pruned through the elimination of after-school programs and cuts to state college budgets, among others. In this way, the multiple purposes of zoos â€” a trifecta once highly valued â€” have today made the institutions a target on government balance sheets.

Are botanical gardens in the same boat? And are genebanks next?

March 27, 2009March 27, 2009

Nibbles: Conference, Funding, Borlaug, Bananas, Indian genebanks, Cassava cooking, Bees, Beer

FARA-led Conference on Agricultural Biodiversity in Africa, 2010
Switzerland will not cut support to genebank in Africa.
Yesterday’s birthday paean to Norman Borlaug,
Man worries (inchoately) about banana extinction.
“Over 20,000 indigenous varieties of Indian rice and other food grains have been conserved under Crop Germplasm Conservation at the gene banks.”
IITA gets USAID support to come up with better cassava recipes. Luigi comments: “All the money in the world will not be enough.”
Giving native bees a home.
Bespoke organic beer in the UK. Sweet!