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March 20, 2008February 26, 2015

Recommendations of the Underutilized Plants Symposium

This just in from Hannah Jaenicke, Director of the International Centre for Underutilized Crops (ICUC):

Over 200 delegates from 55 countries gathered in Arusha, Tanzania 3-7 March 2008 for an International Symposium on “Underutilized plant species for food, nutrition, income and sustainable development”. The Symposium was co-convened under the umbrella of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) by the International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) with the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, Bioversity International, GlobalHort, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, and the World Vegetable Center, whose Regional Center for Africa was the local host.

The symposium was a resounding approval of the need for a working group on underutilized plant species to provide a voice to those who are working on these plants. The delegates endorsed the International Society for Horticultural Sciences’ working group on underutilized plants, which is co-chaired by Dr Hannah Jaenicke of the International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) and Dr Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon of the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species (GFU), and filled it with life and suggestions for future collaboration on research and development projects. A report will be published and circulated in the near future.

Following three days of over 150 scientific presentations, the participants developed a series of recommendations around four pertinent issues.

Continue reading “Recommendations of the Underutilized Plants Symposium”

March 20, 2008March 22, 2008

Nibbles: Carnival, farmer schools, zero-till, drought, barley, ag college, organic choc, ICTs

Tangled Bank 101.
From ELDIS 1: Farmers in Malawi learn best from one another.
From ELDIS 2: Improving crop-livestock systems in Ethiopia.
Nature and Science on the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD).
Barley makes a come-back? No, it’s not beer-related, Jeremy.
A call for respect for Nagpur’s agricultural college in its centenary year. Seconded.
Internets buzzing this morning. Check out a NatGeo video on how organic cacao is saving the rainforest in the Dominican Republic.
CTA wants one laptop per farmer. Not just to “make better PowerPoints,” though.

March 17, 2008March 17, 2008

American Gothic, 21st century style

Somewhat related to Jeremy’s post just below, there’s an article in the New York Times about young Americans going back to the farm. Or rather, going to the farm for the first time: we’re talking Upper East Siders clambering onto tractors. Would be interesting to see whether the percentage of organic farmers among them turns out to be above the average, and whether they will tend to eschew biofuels and favour weird niche crops, heirloom varieties, and agricultural biodiversity in general. Via Metafilter.

March 14, 2008March 15, 2008

Nibbles: AGRA, Andean potatoes, farmer factsheets, tequila, Dogon, yak milk

AGRA’s first eight PhD students get to work.
Papa Andina Regional Initiative assessed by CGIAR CAPrI. Can’t be bothered reading the whole thing? Try this.
Factsheets for farmers in Kenya and Uganda; Luigi’s MIL not available for comment.
Tequila for lunch: Jeremy comments: “Wish I could be at this seminar, at the University of California, Davis”.
Dogon agriculture 101.
Got yak milk?

March 13, 2008March 13, 2008

Snap a spud, win big

The International Year of the Potato has announced a photographic competition, with big prizes to be won. Details are at the IYP web site, which also sets out all the rules and stuff. I find two things about the competition interesting. Closing date is 1 September 2008. For many places, that means you’ve either already taken the photograph, or you have no plans to photograph a maincrop harvest. And the prizes for professionals — “(people who make their living from photography)” — are bigger than those for amateurs. That doesn’t seem quite right. The competition is supported by Nikon.

And that reminds me, it’s time we wrapped up our own competition …