Category: Markets

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Turkey making the most of its agrobiodiversity

I’m off for a few weeks’ holiday soon, but I couldn’t go without some reflections on my recent trip to Uzbekistan, via Turkey. I’ll post some photos from the main market in Tashkent later, but in the meantime, here’s a very rapid agrobiodiversity trifecta from a day’s transit in Istanbul.

First, I haven’t been in Turkey for a while, and I don’t remember vişne, or sour cherry, juice been available so readily commercially in cartons a few years back, along with more common staples like orange and apple juice. It’s delicious. Has anyone seen it in Europe?

Secondly, I was intrigued and impressed by the marketing work being done on the hazelnut. Turkish Airlines doesn’t give out peanuts with its drinks. It gives out attractive packets of dry hazelnuts. Again, very tasty, and a nice way of promoting local agrobiodiversity.

hazelnut

And finally, good to see salep, a traditional drink made from ground up orchid bulbs, on sale at the airport, and indeed featured in the in-flight magazine. Great to warm up after a morning wandering around Istanbul in a rainstorm.

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Nibbles: Aquaculture, Pilchards et al. protected, Mongolian nomads, Tropical wine

  • FAO on climate change and aquaculture.
  • Cornish sardines sigh huge sigh of relief at attaining EU protection.
  • “Planned activities include supporting small businesses, improving access to local and regional markets and reintroducing abandoned traditions such as felt-making for clothing and yurts.” Sounds like a barrel of laughs.
  • “…patronizing our local fruit wines also means helping small farmers and communities that are collecting the fruits used for making these wines.” Anybody try this?
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Geographical indications help to maintain livestock diversity

The “Livestock based Geographical Indication chains as an entry point to maintain agrobiodiversity” Expert Meeting will be the third in the serious of events that FAO have recently organized in order to raise awareness about the importance of traditional products and their role in agriculture and rural development and agro-biodiversity preservation. The Budapest Expert meeting together with the South-East Europe Technical Seminar “Quality Food Products linked to Geographical Origin and Traditions” hold in Belgrade, Serbia in December 2008 and the Technical Forum “Geographical Indication and its contribution to Food Security” hold at the Berlin Forum International Green Week in January 2009, have the objective to constitute an important knowledge base for practitioners, scientists and decision and policy makers for their work related to geographical indications and rural development.