Nibbles: Perenniality, Very minor millet, Red rice, Market, Cacao et al.

  • Aussies test perennial wheat. Luigi asks: should they be growing wheat at all?
  • What is the world’s most obscure crop? The Archaeobotanist makes his case: Spodiopogon formosanus Rendle.
  • Tourism does for “red rice.”
  • “The Wonjoku family in Muea was renowned for the manufacture of hoes, cutlasses, knives, chisels, spears, axes, brass bangles, brass spindles and tools for uprooting stumps of elephant grass.”
  • Nestlé says its new R&D centre in Abidjan will help it source high-quality raw materials of cocoa, coffee and cassava locally, “which in turn will raise the income and the quality of life of local farmers.” Hope conservation gets a look-in.

Kava future bright, but not yet

Mental Floss has a longish, well-informed post on kava in Vanuatu, accompanied by some nice photos. You may remember a post I did a couple of years ago now during the last attempt to clear the drink’s name in Europe. Seems like only yesterday. Anyway, this got me wondering whether kava exports to Europe from places like Vanuatu and, in particular, Fiji had indeed resumed. It seems not, but, according to a recent piece on Radio Australia, the prospects for the Fiji kava industry look reasonable. Or at least they did in January, before the latest round of political uncertainty.