- “Sustainable food production may not begin in this cold Arctic environment, but it does begin by conserving crop diversity.” Words of wisdom from the frozen lips of Ban Ki Moon.
- Organic vs local. A survey.
- Civil Society opposes seed laws in Chile.
- Jeremy gets stuck into a bowl of basmati and Five Farms.
- “Pest to pesto.”
- Tropical fruit flies have less genetic diversity than temperate fruit flies, may have trouble adapting to climate change.
- “It is difficult to imagine what the first taste of sugar or coffee must have been like to those accustomed to weak beer and bread.”
- Lethal yellowing spreads in Ghana?
Nibbles: Exotics, Spinach
- Are exotic vegetables worth the trouble? Well, who says they’re exotic?
- The 5,000 people who die every year of food-borne illness aren’t dying from my spinach. Well, who says they are?
Nibbles: European agricultural origins, Drought, Native American ranching, Sorghum, Anthocyanins in apples, Dog coat, Pear cider
- Farmers headed into Europe. As it were.
- BBC slideshow on drought in NE Kenya and its effect on pastoralists.
- Might they have something to learn from the Sedillo Cattle Association at Laguna Pueblo, NM?
- The script of a radio programme about drought-resistant sorghum in Karamoja, northern Uganda. I can’t find the programme itself.
- The genetics of red-fleshed apples.
- Just 3 genes account for all dog fur phenotypes. But “[w]hat’s important for human health is the way we found the genes involved….rather than the genes themselves.”
- Pear cider makes a comeback.
Nibbles: Fish, Lupines, Dogs, Seeds, Sorghum, Oca
- Farm ponds for water, fish and livelihoods: The role of farm ponds in sustaining livelihoods.
- The nutritional value of Andalusian lupines. Domesticate ’em, someone.
- Saving the Akita … and other things.
- Bob Brockie wants to know what happened to the seeds his dad sent to Vavilov. Good luck with that.
- Q&A about sorghum farming for Guinness Ghana.
- Oca breeding in the UK. This is SO exciting …
Vegetables in Africa, traditional and otherwise
The FARA Secretariat blog linked to a couple of items which are sort of related, if you look hard enough. One is about Prof. Mary Abukutsa-Onyango’s work studying (in particular the nutritional properties) and promoting traditional leafy greens in Kenya, which has just won her a fellowships from African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). You can read or listen to a podcast about it. The other piece is about the African Drylands Commodity Atlas. The connection is that there is actually a section on vegetables in the atlas, along with coffee, cotton, sugar, timber, livestock products etc. Alas, it’s things like cabbages, tomatoes and onions, destined for Europe.
In the rush to export to Europe, African domestic and regional vegetable markets have often been overlooked. Local, district and national markets provide the first outlet and are the primary clients for increased vegetable production.
Still a lot of promotion to be done on those traditional greens, despite the potential for intra-regional trade. Come to think of it, a third of yesterday’s FARA blog posts may also be relevant to African indigenous vegetables. This year’s Economic Report on Africa is focused on “Developing African Agriculture through Regional Value Chains.” Can we hope for a joined-up analysis of all this from FARA?