Are you going to the international symposium on “Underutilized plants for food, nutrition, income and sustainable development” in Arusha, Tanzania on 3-7 March? John Sowei certainly is, all the way from Papua New Guinea, to talk about sago. My old friends from the Pacific Lois Englberger (her Let’s Go Local activities in Pohnpei have featured regularly in these pages) and Mary Taylor are also presenting papers. And I believe another old friend, Hannah Jaenicke, is already in Arusha, helping with the organization. John, Lois, Mary, Hannah — or anyone else: do let us know if you’d like to blog the event for us.
Genebanks galore
Great to start the day with genebank stories. First, from Africa, two separate articles about the Ugandan genebank, one focusing on what’s going in and the other what’s coming out. And then, from India, a heart-warming story about saving the jackfruit.
Nibbles: Japan, BBC TV, sauce, basmati, banana
- 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.