Livestock

Nibbles: Millet origins, Maize origins, Cowpea, Edible weeds, Watermelons

Trace chemicals in Chinese dog bones from 7-8K years ago suggest a diet high in millet, and therefore its cultivation.
Maize origins pushed back and down.
A new cowpea system, including faster varieties, being tried out in Niger.
It’s spring, and Italians’ thoughts starting to turn to eating weeds.
“…his 3 wives and 20 children depend on the water melon business as means of livelihood.”

Ethiopia’s Institute of Biodiversity Conservation reminded us today — quoting an IUCN study from last year — that the African Wild Ass (Equus africanus) is critically endangered. Actually the Asiatic Wild Ass is also in trouble. The summary of the findings of the 2008 IUCN Red List of threatened mammals highlights the situation in SE Asia as particularly worrisome. People are clearly going through the data now and pulling out different themes. A few days ago there was an assessment of the state of rabbits, for example. I wonder if we can look forward to an overview of livestock wild relatives?

Community forestry not making enough money in Namibia. Yeah, but who is?
Southern African freshwater bodies in trouble. Gotta be some worried rice wild relatives out there.
Salinity increasing in Bangladesh. That can’t be good.
Let the people have seeds of local varieties!
Australian takes acacias to Niger, coals to Newcastle.
Breeding rice for tolerance to high Fe in West Africa.
“One of the most abundant sources of fish in Asia, the lake feeds a hungry nation.”