- Indoor farms in Tokyo, growing a diversity of non-pot crops, to train yoof. Via.
- BBC News web site picks up on BBC World TV documentary on neglected species.
- The geography of sauce in South Carolina.
- India and Pakistan find something to agree on: basmati rice.
- Have we already mentioned this new book on bananas?
BBC World to screen biodiversity documentary
People with access to BBC World TV channel, stand by for a treat. Tomorrow night (i.e. Friday 15 February 2008) at 20.30 GMT you can watch Forbidden Fruit, latest in the Earth Report series produced by Television Trust for the Environment. The programme follows two somewhat different scientists. Stefano Padulosi, of Bioversity International, works with colleagues from the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in India to reinvigorate millets for nutrition and income. Isabella dalla Ragione runs Archeologi Arborea, an Italian organization dedicated to rediscovering, conserving and distributing long-lost varieties of fruit.
https://agro.biodiver.se/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/fruittve.movAbove (if the technology works) you should be able to see a clip from the film. (If not, consider going to the Earth Report page at TVE, and accept my apologies. Consider, too, getting a decent web browser.)
Lost Crops
We only nibbled it here, but Andy over at Ecosystems and Poverty has a somewhat longer post about the new book on the “lost fruits” of Africa. Maybe we should have given it more respect. The previous books in the series, which covered Africa and the Andes, are very good indeed.
Micronutrients protect against malaria
Another reason to eat those orange bananas (and sweet potatoes).
African food online
Two Kenyan plant breeding students, Arthur Karugu and Felix Waweru, have a website ((According to a Nation article which seems to have disappeared.)) which “provides information on African foods, recipes, restaurants that sell them that and nutritional advice.” They are planning to develop it into an e-commerce platform for small farmers:
Farmers undergo many problems in marketing their products. They need a market link, and we are ready to facilitate that for them, says Waweru…
Best of luck to them. The website is called Try African Food, and it’s got a blog, a roundup of news etc. I’ve subscribed to their feed and will definitely keep and eye on it. Thanks to Kijo for the headsup.