So what is basmati anyway? Indian boffins all too available for comment.
Hamming it up
Jamon iberico finally gets a visa.
Ethiopian farmers beating pulses
Reuters has a video (about 7 minutes long, and you’ll need a fast connection) about farmers in Ethiopia turning to beans and other pulses as a replacement earner for coffee, which has been buffeted by global production shifts. The hero of the story is Hailu Worku, who does indeed seem to be a pretty impressive farmer. But he has 20 hectares. How typical is that of the “smallholder” farmers that a government spokesman says are the ones growing all those beans for export? And I wasn’t clear from the video whether the farmers are growing beans as part of a rotation with their grain crops. The story mentions an Italian company that is buying up lots of beans for export and a farmer cooperative, which returns 70% of profits to the farmers. Hailu Worke sells to both; now that’s diversity as insurance.
Food choice at truck stops
Truckers want healthy foods. Yeah, right.
Selling the idea of sorghum in southern Zambia
it is fair to say that most farmers in the Southern Province are extremely dissatisfied with growing maize. It fails to meet expectations, year after year, as erractic rainfall and localized droughts reduce yields. But maize is the only marketable crop for farmers (the government is the buyer), so they keep growing it even though payment times can be incredibly drawn out (some farmers have yet to be paid almost 6 months after harvest!) It’s a catch 22 that keeps rural households food insecure and low on cash. Sorghum, with its drought tolerance and available market can address these dissatisfactions.
This from a long and fascinating post — one of those first-hand field reports I find so interesting — from a worker with CARE in Zambia. Thulasy B. has some intriguing insights into the whole business of agricultural development, things that I have no experience of. She also has a blogroll that might be a goldmine for people interested in this area.