Professor Stephen Hopper, director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in London, argues that the world is currently too reliant on just a handful of key species of edible plants for food.
Welcome aboard, Prof. Hopper!
Nibbles: Cacao, Forbes, Gum arabic, Bees, Private sector, Kumquats, Maize, Edible weeds, Herbs, Medicinals, Banana wine, Cachaca. Obamas’ dog
- The history of cacao cultivation, breeding and conservation in Trinidad explained.
- The latest update from Adam searching for seeds around the world. Go, dude.
- “Uganda exports 0.1% of the world’s gum Arabica…” Hardly seems worth it.
- Giving bees a hand. It’s hard to be a bee in the city.
- An active participation is required from the private sector and non-government organisations to take technological advances in farming and its practices to the grassroots level.”
- Kumwhat? Kumquat, that’s what.
- Bush sells maize. Maize surrenders.
- Let them eat weeds.
- But don’t let Thais eat herbs!
- Climate change bad for medicinal plants too.
- Banana wine in Malawi. Pass the bottle.
- How to make cachaca. A couple of friends and I once spent a night looking for the best caipirinhas in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Can’t remember if we found them.
- First Dog found.
Nibbles: Trees, Fibres, Journal, Local sourcing, d’Yquem, Capybaras
- Sacred groves explained.
- Filipinos encouraged to grow fibres.
- New AJFAND is out.
- “Inclusive business models†good for livelihoods, maybe agrobiodiversity too.
- Because it’s there. Disease and fermentation.
- There’s a booming market for chiguiro meat in Venezuela, which is bad for the chiguiro in Colombia.
New crops tapped by ARS
The USDA’s ARS is apparently optimistic about two new crops they’ve been looking at. Or not so new in one case. Guayule, or Parthenium argentatum, was actually used in pre-Columbian times for its latex. It could also now be a source of bioenergy. And milkweed seems to have a lot of weird uses.
Agrobiodiversity in trouble in Cameroon
Ivo Arrey Mbongaya of the African Centre for Community and Development in Cameroon has a blog on the Eldis Community and has recently discussed threats to two different sorts of agricultural biodiversity in his country. Apparently, goat rearing is in decline, because of the disappearance of grazing land, harsh policies about strays and the lack of veterinary services. He doesn’t say if a local breed is involved, however, and does make reference to “efforts by Heifer Cameroon to distribute cheap animals.”
Also in trouble is “eru,” or Gnetum africanum, a shrub whose leaves are consumed as a green vegetable. Unsustainable harvesting and land use changes are taking their toll, and Ivo recommends taking the plant into domestication.There’s been some work on that by ICRAF and others.