Nibbles – Page 495 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

Armenian apricots

The Ministry of Agriculture in Yeravan is organizing an internationalÂ conference on the Armenian apricot.

June 13, 2007June 13, 2007

Viet Nam discusses forest products

Brief report on the first day of a conference on non-timber forest products in Viet Nam.

African biotech

SciDevNet’s roundup of agri-biotech in Africa is online.

June 12, 2007June 12, 2007

Vanishing bees

A long and thorough piece on bee colony collapse disorder in the LA Times. “This does imply there is something biological.”

Gone fishing

Fish are agricultural biodiversity too!

1. In the UK, Herefordshire’s Museum of Cider is picking up national recognition for its genebank of heritage apple trees. The BBC’s canonical autumnal apple story comes a little early this year.
2. Speaking of iconic apples, Kazakhstan is scaling up efforts to bring back the Aport, the giant heirloom that once made Almaty famous. No word of museums, though. Or cider.
3. Over in the Philippines, Department of Environment and Natural Resources is beefing up its rattan genebank to keep pace with demand, with forest stewards in Bukidnon planting seedlings to match. Furniture makers need genebanks as much as cider makers.
4. Sri Lanka’s pre-Green Revolution heirloom rice varieties, purana haal, are being eyed for their resilience and disease-management potential. Good thing they’re in the national genebank.
5. Saudi Arabia’s Jazan terraced coffee farms are turning into rural and ecotourism hotspots, proving not all agrobiodiversity needs to be in a genebank to survive. But it helps.
Published on August 9, 2026