Category: Mainstream

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The flour of Kenyan agrobiodiversity marketing

Here’s the latest in my continuing series of posts on interesting approaches to marketing agricultural biodiversity here in Kenya.

I was pleasantly surprised by this product, which seems to add finger millet and cassava to your basic maize flour for making ugali. A nice way to add taste and nutrients. And support some minor crops.

And this line of porridges is quite impressive, in the range — and presentation — of both their composition and consumer targeting.

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Kenyan tradition, served fast

I want to put up another quick post on the theme of innovative marketing of so-called “opportunity crops” in Kenyan supermarkets. Yesterday it was nicely packaged frozen amaranth leaves that struck me. Today it’s pre-cooked single portions of traditional dishes. No need to refrigerate. Just heat. And eat.

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Nibbles: Tigray grapes, Latin American opportunity crops, Hawaii & Cayman coconuts, North Macedonian collecting, South Korea seed vault, Eswatini seed hub, Expensive healthy diets

  1. A North Macedonian professor’s 15-year rescue mission for landraces and crops surviving only in remote villages. Why bother? Stay tuned…
  2. Ancient grapevines in Tigray represent a unique genetic lineage with potential value for breeding varieties adapted to dryland conditions.
  3. Hawai’i Public Radio checks in on Maui’s coconut genebank. Useful to breed varieties adapted to really wet conditions, presumably.
  4. The Cayman Islands are also hoarding coconuts, along with lots of tasty fruits.
  5. A USD 400,000 boost from Taiwan for the Eswatini national genebank. Indigenous vegetables get much-needed love.
  6. A regional survey of 25 orphan crops across 13 Latin American countries finds quinoa and amaranth well-catalogued, but characterization budgets are the real bottleneck. Collecting and conserving in genebanks is great, but not enough.
  7. South Korea puts 330,000 seed accessions under “double lock”, hedging against both climate change and war. Conserving in one place is not enough.
  8. FAO warns that nearly a third of the world can’t afford the USD 4.28 a day that a healthy diet costs — nearly three billion people, and rising. That’s why we need al the above, I guess.
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Nibbles: Apple-banana paradox, Genebanks, Indian wheat, Indian wild rice, Kenya community seed banks, Wild coffee, Macadamia history, Taro research, Cacti

  1. Why the modern food system prizes uniformity even though resilience depends on diversity. Spoiler alert: follow the money.
  2. Historic crop varieties are finding renewed relevance as farmers contend with more volatile weather, emerging pests and changing markets. Let’s hope there’s money to conserve them.
  3. India’s traditional wheat varieties contain diversity that could help breeders develop crops better able to withstand heat and drought. Let’s hope there’s money to conserve them.
  4. India announces significant progress in conserving its wild rice genetic resources. Great that there was money to conserve them.
  5. Community seed banks across Kenya are calling for formal recognition and sustained support, arguing that locally managed collections strengthen seed sovereignty, preserve traditional varieties and help farming communities adapt to climate change. Yes, but are they enough without national genebanks?
  6. Researchers are racing to conserve wild coffee species whose genetic diversity may provide the resistance and resilience needed to secure tomorrow’s morning cup. Is the industry contributing, though ?
  7. New history of the macadamia traces its remarkable journey from Australia’s native forests to a global crop, while underscoring why conserving the remaining wild populations is essential for the crop’s long-term future.
  8. Researchers at the University of the South Pacific investigate how taro can withstand climate change, combining research with conservation to help protect one of the region’s most culturally and nutritionally important staple crops.
  9. Chester Zoo collects seeds from highly threatened cacti, because why not?
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Playing around with wild potatoes

Journey through 1946’s South America to find and collect wild potato plants, which might hold the key to defeat the blight affecting British crops.

Choose your route, solve puzzles, and learn more about the world of potato biodiversity. But be careful not to run out of resources or you’ll have to cut your expedition short!

That’s all the introduction you get to a new online game from Abertay University and the James Hutton Institute, but it’s clearly inspired by Jack Hawkes’ famous potato collecting expeditions to South America. The resulting Empire Potato Collection, now called the Commonwealth Potato Collection, is still maintained at the Hutton. Our friend Mike Jackson has blogged very comprehensively about it, and also about his own efforts following in the footsteps of Prof. Hawkes.

Let’s see what Mike thinks about the game. I found it a little tricky to get into, though mildly entertaining once I did. But I never collected wild potatoes.