- Bumper wheat crop forecast. Norman Borlaug comments: “looming catastrophe”.
- Sunflower may have been domesticated independently in Mexico, as well as in the Eastern US.
- Neglected and novel? A cautionary tale about The Miracle Berry from the BBC. Via.
- Hold the phone! World Bank says countries are not going to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Via.
Non-wood forest products highlighted
The new NWFP-Digest is online, and as usual points to some great information, including lots of stuff on bamboo for some reason this month. And I don’t know how I missed the great article on women cashing in on indigenous trees in Tanzania when it first came out back in March.
Ugandan discussions about Ankole
Jeremy has already blogged about these articles, but I didn’t get around to reading them until this past weekend, and a connection between them struck me, so forgive me for linking to them again. They’re both worth reading again anyway.
The first is a piece in Wilson Quarterly entitled The Coming Revolution in Africa. It purports to be optimistic about the future of African agriculture, but in fact it ends up being a bit of a downer, even if you accept its premise. Part of that premise is that agricultural experts have got it wrong in the past, which seems fair enough, but is it really the case that
Disdainful of the market, these agricultural specialists preferred to obsess over arcane questions about soil quality, seed varieties, and some mythical ideal of crop diversity. In classic Âbutt-Âcovering mode, they blamed “market failures†and Africa’s geography for farmer’s low incomes and their vulnerability to famine and food Âshortages.
“Some mythical ideal of crop diversity”? What is that supposed to mean? But the quote that really struck me was this one:
Then he criticizes the country’s traditional Âbig-Âhorned Ankole cattle. These animals are beautiful and beloved but provide very little milk, he says, “no matter how hard you squeeze.†He prefers European Friesian cows. “Five of them will produce the same as 50 Ankoles,†he Âsays.
The person speaking is Gilbert Bukenya, vice president of Uganda. The comment jumped out at me because I had previously been reading about the views of his boss on the same topic:
President Yoweri Museveni once imposed a ban on imported semen. Museveni belongs to the Bahima ethnic group. When he was a baby, in a sort of Bahima baptism ritual, his parents placed him on the back of an Ankole cow with a mock bow and arrow, as if to commit him symbolically to the defense of the family’s herd. Museveni, now in his 60s, still owns the descendants of that very cow, and he retains a strong bond to the Ankole breed. Two years ago, I accompanied a group of Ugandan journalists on a daylong trip to one of the president’s private ranches, where he proudly showed us his 4,000-strong herd of Ankole cattle. At one point, a reporter asked if the ranch had any Holsteins. “No, those are pollution,†Museveni replied. “These,†he said, referring to his Ankoles, “the genetic material is superior.â€
This latter quote comes from a long, careful piece in the New York Times about the future of the Ankole cattle.
There must be some very interesting cabinet meetings in Kampala.
Nibbles: Barley, mangoes, erosion
- Boffins say wild barley “a treasure trove.” Lay up not your treasures on Earth.
- Boffins say Florida mangoes “unique.” As is the mother, so is her daughter.
- Boffins say rice genetic diversity being eroded in the Philippines. They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
More on thatching
A couple of weeks back I alluded to problems in the thatching industry in the UK and linked to a piece by Danny at Rurality. Well, I put in the wrong link (now fixed), and anyway Danny’s post was pretty short and it was talking about an article that is not online. But never fear, if you’re really interested in the crisis in British thatching, you can read about it in the Telegraph. Or you can get the bullet-point version at Cronaca.