The FreshPlaza newsletter is a veritable treasure trove of information on fruit & veg around the world. Yesterday’s issue was particularly rich in agrobiodiversity articles. Among other things, it pointed to pieces about how the British are losing their cherry varieties, and about how a Washington State farmer found a new one. There was also an appreciation from Pakistan of the local fruit known as “jamun“, which is probably Syzygium cumini.
Nibbles: Crops for the Future, Fertile Crescent, Canadian First Nation
- A common collection of publications on neglected crops.
- Crescent, maybe, but fertile, not so much.
- “The beaches now are empty of herring roe, its harvest a lost art.”
“The rain and wind would come”
For centuries, the Kamayurá planted their summer crops when a certain star appeared on the horizon. “When it appeared, everyone celebrated because it was the sign to start planting cassava since the rain and wind would come,” Chief Kotok recalled. But starting seven or eight seasons ago, the star’s appearance was no longer followed by rain, an ominous divergence, forcing the tribe to adjust its schedule.
It has been an ever-shifting game of trial and error since. Last year, families had to plant their cassava four times — it died in September, October and November because there was not enough moisture in the ground. It was not until December that the planting took. The corn also failed, said Mapulu, the chief’s sister. “It sprouted and withered away,” she said.
That’s from a NY Times article from the Xingu National Park in Brazil. And it’s not just the Kamayurá’s cassava that is being affected.
Deforestation and, some scientists contend, global climate change are making the Amazon region drier and hotter, decimating fish stocks in this area and imperiling the Kamayurá’s very existence. Like other small indigenous cultures around the world with little money or capacity to move, they are struggling to adapt to the changes.
That eerily echoes the experience of the Tla’Amin people, a Canadian First Nation. But that’s another story. Back to cassava. Coincidentally, our friend and colleague Andy Jarvis has just shared a presentation which looks at the effect of climate change on cassava in Latin America.
Perhaps Andy will tell us whether the changes Chief Kotok described are in line with what his models are telling him.
High water, low water
Thanks to the NY Times’ photography blog Lens, two great multimedia presentations for you, both on a watery theme, but with some agrobiodiversity thrown in. From Panos, a moving video of the story of how Tuvaluans are trying — and, alas, mainly failing — to cope with climate change. It’s getting harder and harder to maintain the way of life, including the taro and pulaka gardens, in the face of rising water levels. But the alternative, life in New Zealand, is not appealing to everyone. And from the other side of the world, illustrating the opposite problem, a photoessay on Iraq’s Marsh Arabs, who live by fishing, growing a few crops, and raising buffaloes. But “farmers say lowered water levels and pollution has made it difficult to keep the buffalo healthy.”
Japanese agrobiodiversity art
Adam at Mutantfrog Travelogue, which seems to be a blog about things Japanese, has a post about a craft called Mizuhiki (水引). This involves the decorative use of twine made from a special kind of traditionally-produced paper called Washi or Wagami (和紙). Washi is made from all kinds of different agrobiodiversity:
Washi is commonly made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (Edgeworthia papyrifera), or the paper mulberry, but also can be made using bamboo, hemp, rice, and wheat.
That “gampi tree” gave me a bit of trouble, but I finally ran it to ground. It seems to be Wikstroemia sikokiana in the Thymelaeaceae. The paper looks beautiful. Anyway, in researching all this I came across a little gem:
In 1869 the then Prime Minister, William Gladstone, requested a report on Japanese paper and papermaking from the British Embassy in Japan. A thorough investigation was carried out by Sir Harry Parkes and his team of consular staff in different Japanese towns, resulting in the publication of a government report, “Reports on the manufacture of paper in Japan“, and the formation of a collection of 400+ sheets of handmade paper. The main parts of this collection are now housed in the Paper Conservation Laboratory of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Economic Botany Collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In 1879 Kew sent duplicate samples to Glasgow, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, but these have been lost. The Parkes paper collection is important because the origin, price, manufacturing method and function of each paper was precisely documented.
Something to check out the next time I’m in London.