Category: Neglected species

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West meets East for diverse recipes

Someone called Mythili, in the US, has been inspired by a conversation with her ((I know, stereotyping, but …)) grandmothers to concoct a series on traditional small grains of India. Mostly recipes, although she may be gathering other kinds of traditional knowledge too from her grannies. Be interesting to see where Mythili’s blog goes with this, but I think interviewing grandparents is a good way for children to get a feel for agricultural biodiversity.

Of course, if you don’t have the sort of relationship in which you can simply talk to older people (or, indeed, anyone) fear not. Help is at hand, in the form of something called an Earth Dinner. I kid you not. The helpful folks at Organic Valley have produced a set of cards you can buy that ask questions like “Describe a family recipe …” Could be valuable if someone were to collate all the results.

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Using native plants

It may be a bit of a stretch for this blog, but I liked a recent Christian Science Monitor article on the increasing use of native plants – at the expense of exotics – for landscaping in some parts of the US. The authors credit more awareness of climate change, and in particular worries about excessive water use in ever more drought-prone areas, for this shift in attitudes.

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Online conference for you

Markus Schmidt has invited any readers of this blog to take part in an e-conference on neglected and underutilized species in Asia. The day job prevents me from taking part, but I’m sure it will be pretty interesting, and some colleagues may well be there. I hope we’ll be able to link to the outcomes. Here’s the message from Markus:

Until April 17 2007 the European research project “Agrofolio” hosts an e-conference on Neglected and Underutilized Species NUS in selected southeast Asian countries (Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam) and China. During the e-conference we will discuss our preliminary list of NUS in Asian countries and the role of developed countries ( e.g. Europe, North America, Japan) in their possible support or unintented hindering (e.g. trade barriers) for sustainable use of NUS in Asian countries.

You can participate by registering for free at www.agrofolio.eu/forum/, or send an email to e.conference@agrofolio.eu.

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Gardens of Agricultural Biodiversity

From the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, news of the ethnobotany garden. Dr Francis Ng reports that the half-hectare garden, which he designed, is flourishing, and that eventually he hopes to have more than 500 species — including Musa lokok, a previously unknown banana species — used by the local people on hand to study. The garden is close to the Orang Utan Centre at Semengok and has already been visited by schoolchildren. Eventually, Dr Ng says, tourists will be able to visit. Gardens of useful plants strike me as an excellent way to promote the virtues of agricultural biodiversity in a local context. I know of a couple, at Nabk in Syria and the Potato Park near Cusco, Peru, but there must be others.

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Enset bags

Via Timbuktu Chronichles comes news that a Ugandan company called African Skin has won the Business in Development Challenge. African Skin makes attractive bags and other accessories from the outer layers of fibre of the enset plant (see also here for the role of enset in food security in Ethiopia), which can be sustainably harvested. “The Business in Development (BiD) Challenge is the first international business plan competition for entrepreneurship and development. The BiD Challenge offers entrepreneurs worldwide the opportunity to develop and execute business plans that improve living standards in developing countries at a profit.”