The BBC’s One Planet programme visits Hyderabad to talk to urban vegetable growers and buffalo keepers. This seems to be part of a series. A previous programme visited Kampala. The podcasts are here. But it’s weird. I can’t find a decent, detailed description of the programme(s) online, much less a place to get transcripts. That can’t be right.
What’s a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?
I heard an interesting programme on the BBC World Service last night about how middle class Chicagoans are buying shares in nearby farms. The farmers get money up front from them, rather than from banks who wouldn’t give them anyway, and the urbanites can hang out in a rustic setting and have fresh produce from a trusted source delivered weekly. Unfortunately, I can’t find the piece on the BBC website. However, there’s a NY Times article from a couple of weeks back that will do just as well. ((It’s also in the International Herald Tribune if you don’t like registering at the Times.)) The article says that this
… concept was imported from Europe and Asia in the 1980s as an alternative marketing and financing arrangement to help combat the often prohibitive costs of small-scale farming.
Here’s one of the shareholders, retired computer consultant Steve Trisko, who likes weeding beets and tending tomatoes:
We decided that it’s in our interest to have a small farm succeed and have them be able to have a sustainable farm producing good food.
Is this part of the back-to-the-future, small-is-beautiful vibe Jeremy was talking up a few posts back?
Nibbles: Olive oil, Soil, Heirloom varieties
- The Real Olive Oil Story. Via.
- Soil Atlas of Europe. Only images, though, it looks like. Via.
- South Carolina farmers embrace heirloom crops.
Kenya short of beer
This one really raises more questions than it answers. An article in Kenya’s The Nation newspaper, reprinted by allAfrica.com, says that:
The Government Monday donated traditional crop seeds to farmers as it moved to ensure food security.
So the first question is: seeds of traditional crops or traditional seeds of traditional crops? Ok, probably the former. Then:
The seeds released Thursday were destined for western Kenya which is experiencing poor rains.
Well, western Kenya has experienced poor rains before, and I never heard of such government munificence before. Ah, but:
Production of these crops has declined due to unavailability of planting materials, little interest from seed companies due to low demand and low investment in research.
The crops which do well in dry areas have also been affected by limited knowledge among farmers, change of eating habits and limited knowledge on agro-processing to add value and improve marketability of the crops.
Well, very true, but all that’s been the case for ages. So, probably politics, I guess. Ruto is from the opposition party, and western Kenya is an opposition stronghold, although he’s not from there. No, wait, that’s too cynical, here’s the explanation for the urgency:
“We have been informed that Kenya Breweries Limited require 24,000 tonnes of white sorghum per year for brewing lager. Towards this, we will be distributing over 100 tonnes of white sorghum seeds in 62 districts,” Mr Ruto said.
Anyway, what varieties were used? It would be nice to think that maybe the Genebank of Kenya was involved in sourcing diverse, locally adapted material, but somehow I doubt it.
Italian silk-making
We’ve blogged several times about silk-making in Africa, but this is somewhat closer (at least physically) to home (at least for now). Smithsonian Magazine has a short article on sericulture which includes a reference to a museum devoted to the subject in Como. Turns out that northern Italian city used to be a hub of silk-making. Who knew.
Incidentally, we’ve also blogged about butterfly farming before. And there’s a post just out at mongbay on what they’re doing at the Iwokrama reserve in Guyana. But an article in The Independent describes something altogether more grandiose: “the world’s biggest ‘walkthrough butterfly experience.'”