- Combining traditional and scientific knowledge on an invasive species to manage forests.
- Variation in dryland trees: Balanites and Adansonia.
- Roundup of biofortification bloggers.
Where are the variety-level food composition data?
FAO has just announced the publication of Composition of Selected Foods from West Africa.
The table includes 173 foods and 30 components. It is mainly a compilation of data from other food composition tables, theses and the scientific literature. It is one of the first regional food composition tables not only including data on commonly consumed raw foods but also cooked foods and on food biodiversity, i.e. data on variety level and on underutilized foods.
Well, that is all true as far as it goes, but I’m afraid it doesn’t really go very far. There are indeed data on things like fonio and baobab leaves in the table, which is very welcome. But the variety-level data are very limited, with maybe a dozen pearl millet and a few maize entries. Still a lot of work to be done there. Interestingly, the pearl millet varieties all have ikmp numbers (like ikmp-5), which suggests that they are selections made in Burkina Faso by INERA (Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles).
Nibbles: Ethnobotany, Marketing, Cacao
Nibbles: Sweden, Nagoya, 100 questions,
- Swede objects to relaxed seed laws because it promotes profit, not biodiversty. Huh?
- Scidev.net optimistic about Nagoya.
- Those 100 questions answered in full for global agriculture, from climate change to consumer choice. We’ll be back on this one.
Nibbles: Advice, Advice, Advice, IR8
- Americans advised to eat diversity, by USDA and others. Wot, no fortified staples?
- Webcast on Food Systems and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa. h/t The Agrobiodiversity Grapevine.
- French vegetables disappearing? Je ne le crois pas.
- The Scientist Gardener tackles declining yields of miracle rice, but what has he done to his colour scheme?