Indigenous knowledge systems

July 15, 2008July 15, 2008

Conserving palms

Two palm stories were in the news yesterday. First, from Brazil, how a local community is changing its ways in an effort to exploit the juÃ§ara palm (Euterpe edulis) more sustainably. Then, from India, news of a biotechnological trick to determine the sex of palmyrah palms without having to wait for them to grow up.

I’ve been having to do rather more thinking about palm conservation than is altogether comfortable at work lately — coconut is such a beast, really. That, and these stories, and the need for some displacement activity got me googling. Kew and the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden seem to be at the forefront of palm conservation. There have been some successes in the field, but I’m beginning to think that at least for coconut the best bet may be Roland Bourdeix’s islet idea.

July 10, 2008July 10, 2008

Sorghum woes in Somaliland

Another farmer speaks:

Worried about the infertility of my farm, the other day, I was sitting alone trying to find explanation as to why my farm was productive in the olden days producing 100 sacks of 50kg each of sorghum in one go and why it is sterile today producing less than 5 sacks a year no matter how hard I may work?

Read the whole lot.

July 6, 2008

No veggies. But why not?

Blogging comes more or less full circle with Jessica’s letters from Niger. Jessica Bliss is a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. She has even less internet access than the other front-line people we occasionally link to. But she writes letters home. Using pen and paper and postage stamps; imagine that! And her parents blog them. ((I love the disclaimer: The contents of this blog do not reflect the opinions of the US government or Peace Corps. Because of that it should be kind of fun to read.“)) Beats handing a tattered envelope around.

Anyway, in her latest, Jessica puts the food crisis in perspective; the perspective of “her” villagers. She says that “with the exception of onions and the occasional powdered tomato and okra that they put in sauces, people don’t eat many veggies. (This might change here: working on it!)”

Two questions:

Why not? Is it because there really isn’t enough water? Or is it that there just isn’t a cultural tradition of growing and eating plants?
What can she be working on? I hope we’ll find out soon enough.

July 5, 2008July 17, 2008

Nibbles: Vine, Food, Soil, Malnutrition squared, Coca

Italians rescue forgotten grape varieties for new varietals. Diciamo “cin cin”.
Eat up all your beets.
LEISA magazine tells us about making soils better.
Maps of malnutrition in Ecuador. Where are the agrobiodiversity maps to mash with them, Andy?
“If we were to look at improving the height of children, rather than the weight, we might be able to improve this situation.”
NatGeo video on coca marketing in Bolivia.

June 30, 2008June 30, 2008

Nibbles: Maize squared, Urban Ag, Traditional farming, Rice, Extension, Training, Pine nuts, Beer, Markets

More on ancient maize. Old popcorn contains interesting DNA diversity.
How teosinte became maize.
Urban Harvest has a new web site. Via.
Khadin cultivation system contributes to sustainability in Rajasthan.
Vietnamese farmers helping their African brethren grow rice.
Agricultural development officer delivers training on village-level seed management, then hands out improved seed.
Former student waxes lyrical about UP Los BaÃ±os.
Pine nuts.
Brewing medieval and modern juxtaposed.
Working out fair trade.