Category: Markets

Posted on

Recommendations of the Underutilized Plants Symposium

This just in from Hannah Jaenicke, Director of the International Centre for Underutilized Crops (ICUC): 

Over 200 delegates from 55 countries gathered in Arusha, Tanzania 3-7 March 2008 for an International Symposium on “Underutilized plant species for food, nutrition, income and sustainable development”. The Symposium was co-convened under the umbrella of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) by the International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) with the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, Bioversity International, GlobalHort, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, and the World Vegetable Center, whose Regional Center for Africa was the local host.

The symposium was a resounding approval of the need for a working group on underutilized plant species to provide a voice to those who are working on these plants. The delegates endorsed the International Society for Horticultural Sciences’ working group on underutilized plants, which is co-chaired by Dr Hannah Jaenicke of the International Centre for Underutilised Crops (ICUC) and Dr Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon of the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species (GFU), and filled it with life and suggestions for future collaboration on research and development projects. A report will be published and circulated in the near future.

Following three days of over 150 scientific presentations, the participants developed a series of recommendations around four pertinent issues.

Continue reading “Recommendations of the Underutilized Plants Symposium”

Posted on

Local to where?

One of the great dangers of the internet is that it makes everywhere seem like next door. So when I stumbled across Local Harvest my first thought was, “Not to here it isn’t”. But that’s needless nitpickery. The fact is, southern Europe is still sufficiently diverse that one doesn’t really need a service such as this to locate a decent source of locally grown food. I can go to my local market and ask where the produce was grown and get an answer. But I also know that this is becoming more and more of a luxury. So perhaps it would be nice for the many and varied farmers and farmers’ market schemes across Europe to come up with something similar. There’s something in London, but it isn’t nearly as inclusive as it makes out. May as well get started with it now, before we really need it. Or maybe there’s already something similar out there?

Posted on

Nibbles: AGRA, Andean potatoes, farmer factsheets, tequila, Dogon, yak milk

Posted on

Mo’ better beans

Iowa State University has been awarded $450,000 by the US Agency for International Development to improve beans in Rwanda. The University’s Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods will work with local partners to see whether improving yields will result in beans that are more nutritious or more marketable or — Jackpot! — both. Nice idea, and if it succeeds a valuable contribution to fighting hunger and poverty in the region. As ever with this sort of project, however, one wonders whether specific steps will be taken to preserve the existing bean biodiversity that improved varieties will almost certainly displace.