The Ethiopian Biodiversity Conservation Institute has reported on a variety of efforts to conserve and make better use of medicinal plants. Lots of interesting snippets of information, and some ideas others may find worthwhile. Head on over to AllAfrica.com for the story. The Institute has a web site here, with medicinal plants here. There’s also one for the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation and Research. I can’t figure out the relationship between the two.
Unchaining cassava in Africa
Via “Timbuktu Chronicles,” a fascinating blog by Emeka Okafor about African entrepreneurship and innovation, comes a link of a 2005 Common Fund for Commodities paper on the development of the market for cassava in Africa. The bottom line seems to be that the commodity chain needs to be strengthened and supported by appropriate and sustainable services. Given the cassava boom that has been sweeping Nigeria of late, that may in fact have happened since the paper was written. Other recent entries on Emeka’s blog look at honey and community genebanks. This RSS feed is going straight into my reader.
Mapping food and drink
I think we can all agree that it is better for all concerned – from farmers to consumers – for there to be lots of different types of beer. Problem is, some of these beers will be hard to find, and that means that they might not last in the market. Fear not: the Beer Mapping Project will show you where to go for your favourite amber nectar, at least if you live in the US. Here’s an article about the man behind the project, and the same author has also done a review of other food mapping sites here.
Longhorns registered
A surprisingly detailed – for this kind of thing – article in the News-Journal describes efforts to preserve the breed of cattle known as the Texas Longhorn. This apparently developed from cattle introduced from Spain to what is now Mexico around 1500. It was the mainstay of the Texan cattle industry until railroads replaced the traditional cattle drive (much seen in John Wayne movies) at the end of the 19th century. Their long horns meant you could fit fewer of them into the cattle-trucks. It has since been much altered by cross-breeding, and, predictably, this loss of “purity” has upset some people, while no doubt leaving others to mutter “So what?”, probably under their breath. Anyway, there’s a registry, and a DNA database is underway. Lots more interesting detail in the article.
Pirates of Lake Victoria
I mentioned a few days ago that the water hyacinth is making a comeback on Lake Victoria, after being almost eradicated by biological control. That’s sparked a small-scale furniture-making industry, but is obviously bad news for fishermen, who are forced to venture further out into the lake to get good catches. That’s far more than just a nuisance, according to an article in The Nation today. The further you go out from shore, it seems, the greater the danger of falling foul of pirates! The veritable heart of darkness that is the nile perch fishery on Lake Victoria is the subject of a very well-reviewed documentary, “Darwin’s Nightmare,” which I hope to see soon. Have you?