Joel Haas is an American author and sculptor. He’s traveling in Taiwan at the moment, and writing about it online. I don’t think he has a particular interest in agrobiodiversity, but maybe I’m wrong, because there are many engaging observations on useful wild plants, crops and food in his posts and numerous photos.
Rock salt and pond scum
A fascinating post over at Rancho Gordo discusses tequesquite. That’s a natural salt that has been used in Mexican cooking since pre-Columbian times, including for nixtamalization, a process that makes maize easier to process, tastier and more nutritious.
The post also mentions the alga known as tecuilayl (Spirulina geitleri). This was apparently an important food for the Aztecs. 1 Our resident expert on Mexico says it’s the perfect complement to a succulent steamed axolotl in chile sauce. Yummie.
(Some) Indian women ready for climate change
In Zaheerabad, dalit (broken) women forming the lowest rung of India’s stratified society, now demonstrate adaptatation to climate change by following a system of interspersing crops that do not need extra water, chemical inputs or pesticides for production.
The women grow as many as 19 types of indigenous crops to an acre, on arid, degraded lands that they have been regenerated with help from an organisation called the Deccan Development Society (DDS).
Good news alert, from InterPress Service.
Nibbles: Farmers, Fertilizer, Bangladesh
- Real farmers …
- AGRA et al. seeks ways to make more affordable fertilizer available to Africa.
- Strengthening Community Gardening in Bangladesh, with lots of added ITPGRFA goodness.
Submergence resistant rice on the airwaves
“It was not in use,” said Pamela Ronald. “Very, very low yield and very poor flavor, so no one was eating it. It’s really more like a grassy weed, but it had these properties.”
“It” is a rice from eastern India which was known 2 to survive under water. Listen on VOA to how Pamela Roland identified the sub gene in this variety and then introduced it into the popular Swarna.
“We wanted to hear what kind of difference it made to their families, and a couple of the women told me that they were able to feed their families and they had extra rice to sell, which is really important in those areas to bring in a little cash,” said Pamela Ronald.