Ugandan minister of Agriculture Hilary Onek has been talking to Chinese officials about increased Chinese investment in modernizing Uganda’s agriculture. Onek’s main desire seems to be to increase the use of fertilizers and certain types of high-yielding seed. It sounds like the same old same old, with no thought for either traditional smallholder expertise or their approach to new technology. But maybe all that hi-tech investment really is what Uganda and China need.
The roots of Darfur
The world is waking up to the fact that competition for an eroding natural resources base is at least a contributing factors to the tensions of Darfur, whose tragic results then further exacerbate the problem in vicious positive feedback. But Jonathan Robinson said so some years back (via ADE). What took so long?
Peru’s potato celebration encircles the world
An Associated Press report on a potato harvest in the high Andes of Peru has been picked up by scores of newspapers around the world. That’s salutary, because I often forget that what is old news for those of us in the business, as it were, is fresh and interesting for hordes of other people. There’s often very good mileage to be had from simply showing others the diversity you may be quite familiar with.
Root crops news
Root and tuber staples get a bit of a raw deal in agricultural biodiversity circles. They’re incredibly important to many cultures and in many agricultural systems around the world, but difficult to conserve and difficult to breed. So the discourse does tend to be dominated by seed crops. Which is why it’s so great to read — in the mainstream media — of a sweet potato enthusiast in Japan and of a fascinating traditional yam ceremony in Papua New Guinea.
Garlic in the press
The beginning of a panic about the garlic deficit with China? Via Food Museum Blog.