Following my putting up his video of surfing in the Solomons — with ancillary shots of agrobiodiversity — Tony Jansen has pointed out to me that Seed Savers actually have a video on YouTube that is all about agricultural biodiversity. Here it is.
Ethan Zuckerman puts the e- in e-agriculture
Ethan Zuckerman is a well-respected internet guru. He’s got a blog, called My Heart’s in Accra, on which he muses “on Africa, international development and hacking the media.” He was recently at the Web2forDev conference here in Rome, the centrepiece of e-Agriculture week, where he
participated in a very strange panel on eAgriculture, where the main topic of conversation seemed to be the fact that none of the panelists quite knew what eAgriculture was or should be.
That’s from a blog entry with a definite agrobiodiversity vibe, talking as it does about recent innovative solutions to the problem of providing up-to-date price information on commodities to Ethiopian farmers, for example via SMS. Thanks to Kevin for the tip.
Hot news from CAPRi
No, that’s not a typo. CAPRi is the CGIAR system-wide program on Collective Action and Property Rights. A little more than a year ago CAPRi organized a workshop on Collective Action and Market Access for Smallholders. Now the papers from that meeting are available online. Two that might be of particular interest to Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog readers are:
CAPRi Working Paper No. 69: Collective Action and Marketing of Underutilized Plant Species: The Case of Minor Millets in Kolli Hills, Tamil Nadu, India, by Guillaume P. Gruère, Latha Nagarajan, and E.D.I. Oliver King
and
CAPRi Working Paper No. 70: The Role of Public-Private Partnerships and Collective Action in Ensuring Smallholder Participation in High Value Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains, by Clare Narrod, Devesh Roy, Julius Okello, Belem Avendaño, Karl Rich
Participatory mapping in Africa
An organization called Udongo — which is new to me, although that signifies nothing — reports on a massive mapping exercise in the Mukogodo forest in Kenya. Four different clans of the Yiaku people (some people call them Yaaku) will work with scientists and others to create “a three dimensional model of part of their ancestral lands, showing the Yiaku conception of natural systems of water, forestry, forest products and wildlife. The map helps to create an inventory of indigenous knowledge, natural resources and the intangible heritage of the region.” Then what? “The Yiakku will explore how the 3 D model will be integrated into the future planning processes of the Yiakku and Mukogodo community.”
If you’re listening, Udongo, let us know how it works out, OK?
The ITPGRFA Governing Body meets
The Second Session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is on all week at FAO, Rome. Good opportunity to meet up with old friends. Follow the goings on daily at Earth Negotiations Bulletin.