Geographic indications to the rescue of agrobiodiversity.
Economic diversification in Guatemala
Who knew? Via The Lubin Files, news that FAO has a channel on YouTube.
Oliver Stone unavailable for comment.
Lost pepper found
Via Buddhism Adjunkt, who is back after a little absence, a link to an article on The Lost Pepper of Cambodia, by Phil Lees. Unfortunately the article, in Chile Pepper magazine, won’t be available online for at least six months. So all I can do is quote from Phil’s tantalizing blog entry:
What does the visit of Chinese emissary Zhou Daguan to Angkor Wat in 1297, Khmer Rouge kidnappings and the recent landgrabbing of Okhna Ly Yong Phat in rural Sre Ambel, Cambodia have in common?
Cambodian pepper: which is how I tenuously link them all together in this month’s Chile Pepper magazine (US).
That, and hope I remember to check Chile Pepper when the six months are up. Or maybe someone else can enlighten us?
South Africa turning its back on local greens?
Timbuktu Chronicles pointed me to an interesting allAfrica feature on the organic vegetable revolution sweeping around the edges of Cape Town under the leadership of some formidable grandmothers. Great that such a community-based movement is taking off and making a difference, of course. But it was a bit disappointing for me not to see much evidence in the text and photos that indigenous African vegetables are included in the mix. I know there are dedicated people promoting this neglected agrobiodiversity in South Africa. I’ve worked with some of them. Local leafy greens have become mainstream in countries like Kenya in the past few years: you can buy them nicely packaged in supermarkets now, which was certainly not the case when I lived there in the mid-90s. Is that not happening in South Africa? If not, why not? I hope someone out there can tell us.
FAO highlights giant swamp taro
A press release by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has highlighted a paper in the latest edition of the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, sponsored by FAO.  The study reveals the potential health benefits of giant swamp taro, an increasingly neglected crop in Micronesia, where there are serious nutrition problems, as traditional foods are being replaced by imported foods of lower nutritional content. The release points out thatÂ
… a group of researchers from the Federated States of Micronesia, Switzerland, Fiji, Australia, USA, and Palau have generated new data, and confirmed previous findings, showing that Micronesian giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii) varieties are rich sources of nutrients. For the first time, the researchers present data on carotenoid and mineral content of many varieties of giant swamp taro, in addition to dietary characteristics of Micronesian citizens. According to lead researcher Lois Englberger, certain varieties contain high amounts of micronutrients, including beta-carotene and essential minerals such as zinc, iron, and calcium.
The full press release can be found here. ((Thanks to Lois Englberger for this information.))