Nibbles – Page 242 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

November 8, 2011November 8, 2011

Nibbles: Parthenium, Squashes

Parthenium hysterophorus is smothering Kenya. Somebody do something. And what’s that specific mean? Late-bearing?
Cucurbits and American history.
NordGen etc workshop on Socio-economic and Cultural Values of Farm Animal Breeds. And all the presentations are linked. But where are the stories?

November 7, 2011November 7, 2011

Nibbles: Rubber

Almost empty internets today

Jungle rubber bounces back with added biodiversity. Who could resist?

November 6, 2011November 6, 2011

Nibbles: Dutch camels, Kenyan food fair

TV for your Sunday entertainment:

A Dutch camel farm. Thanks Anissa.
A Kenyan food fair. Thanks Jess.

November 5, 2011November 5, 2011

Nibbles: Libya, Retail links, Book

Libya asks ICARDA for seeds. We ask “Libyan seeds?”
Indian small farmers should link to retail chains.
New Agriculturalist reviews a book on upscaling small-scale farmers.

November 4, 2011

Nibbles: Palestinian genebank, PNG seeds, Local chickens, Landscapes

New seed bank on West Bank. This one seems to be a genebank. I think.
Seeds and needs in PNG.
ILRI PowerPoint on Ethiopian chickens. But 46 slides?
Everybody’s talking about the new Landscapes for People, Food and Nature thing, so I guess we should too.

1. A North Macedonian professor’s 15-year rescue mission for landraces and crops surviving only in remote villages. Why bother? Stay tuned…
2. Ancient grapevines in Tigray represent a unique genetic lineage with potential value for breeding varieties adapted to dryland conditions.
3. Hawai’i Public Radio checks in on Maui’s coconut genebank. Useful to breed varieties adapted to really wet conditions, presumably.
4. The Cayman Islands are also hoarding coconuts, along with lots of tasty fruits.
5. A USD 400,000 boost from Taiwan for the Eswatini national genebank. Indigenous vegetables get much-needed love.
6. A regional survey of 25 orphan crops across 13 Latin American countries finds quinoa and amaranth well-catalogued, but characterization budgets are the real bottleneck. Collecting and conserving in genebanks is great, but not enough.
7. South Korea puts 330,000 seed accessions under “double lock”, hedging against both climate change and war. Conserving in one place is not enough.
8. FAO warns that nearly a third of the world can’t afford the USD 4.28 a day that a healthy diet costs — nearly three billion people, and rising. That’s why we need al the above, I guess.
Published on July 28, 2026