- Catha edulis bad for Yemen economy. Having been waved a gun at by a qat-chewing Somali teenager, I can testify it’s bad for other things as well.
- Amy Goldman on the heirloom tomato.
- Biology Letters special feature on climate change and biodiversity.
- And more on climate change, this time its likely effect on livelihoods.
- All you ever wanted to know about plant genetic resources conservation in Germany.
- “Isn’t it crazy to think that everything we eat or use that comes from plants at one time grew completely wild?” Well, not so much.
- Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment. (Watch out, very large file.)
- Another reason not to drink sugary soft drinks: gout. Coconut water anyone?
- Pre-Columbian Chilean chickens could have come from anywhere, not just Polynesia.
- Mapping diseases.
- A 12th century olive genebank in Morocco.
- Traditional Ethiopian barley/wheat mixtures (hanfets) have some advantages over pure stands.
Nibbles: Health, Figs, Biocontrol, Small, Tomato
- US to spend $2.25 million to find out whether preserving biodiversity could reduce disease. We say “what, no ag? Again?”
- Fancy a fig?
- Mud pot formulation brings unbelievable benefits.
- More small is beautiful: artisanal weed. Via.
- Meet the Tom-Anto.
Kenya short of beer
This one really raises more questions than it answers. An article in Kenya’s The Nation newspaper, reprinted by allAfrica.com, says that:
The Government Monday donated traditional crop seeds to farmers as it moved to ensure food security.
So the first question is: seeds of traditional crops or traditional seeds of traditional crops? Ok, probably the former. Then:
The seeds released Thursday were destined for western Kenya which is experiencing poor rains.
Well, western Kenya has experienced poor rains before, and I never heard of such government munificence before. Ah, but:
Production of these crops has declined due to unavailability of planting materials, little interest from seed companies due to low demand and low investment in research.
The crops which do well in dry areas have also been affected by limited knowledge among farmers, change of eating habits and limited knowledge on agro-processing to add value and improve marketability of the crops.
Well, very true, but all that’s been the case for ages. So, probably politics, I guess. Ruto is from the opposition party, and western Kenya is an opposition stronghold, although he’s not from there. No, wait, that’s too cynical, here’s the explanation for the urgency:
“We have been informed that Kenya Breweries Limited require 24,000 tonnes of white sorghum per year for brewing lager. Towards this, we will be distributing over 100 tonnes of white sorghum seeds in 62 districts,” Mr Ruto said.
Anyway, what varieties were used? It would be nice to think that maybe the Genebank of Kenya was involved in sourcing diverse, locally adapted material, but somehow I doubt it.
Quality management in genebanks
You may remember a nibble a few weeks back about CIP’s ISO accreditation for its germplasm acquisition, management and distribution operations. The press release stated that:
This is the first time that a genebank has gained accreditation anywhere in the world.
I was a bit skeptical about this initially, as I knew that some European genebanks had also put in place a formal quality management system. But, on reading about the subject on the website of the Dutch genebank, it seems that what they have achieved is certification, which I have a feeling is quite different to accreditation. Maybe some expert out there will put me out of my misery.
Anyway, I was reminded of all this by a paper just out in Theriogenology which looks at managing the quality of the 127,479 samples in the US swine germplasm collection at Ft Collins.
Nibbles: Sunflowers, Cherries, Red jungle fowl, Sheep, Russia, Kenya, GFU on NUS
- USDA boffins tour Aussie garbage dumps.
- Today’s “Save the British X” (where X=a fruit of your choice) story comes to you from The Times.
- And today’s multiple independent domestications story comes from India.
- And today’s how to boost urban biodiversity? From Brighton, UK.
- Mapping Russian crops and their pests.
- Kenyan government messing with prices to clear wheat market, boost neglected species.
- Our friends at the Global Facilitation Unit (for Neglected and Underutilised Species) have published a book.