Nutrition

August 30, 2011August 31, 2011

Homegardens and night blindness

Sometimes a paper comes down to just one diagram or table. Like the one above. There’s a few ins and outs to this study, a few whys and wherefores. And you should probably read the whole thing and take notes and follow up the references and maybe drop a line to the authors for clarifications. But there’ll be no getting around the fact that kids who had access to homegardens didn’t need vitamin A supplementation to avoid night blindness, whereas kids who didn’t, did. Thanks to Jess for the tip.

August 29, 2011August 29, 2011

Brainfood: Roots, Ethnopharmacology, Heat tolerance, Food origin myths, Trees outside forests, Wild fruit tree agroforestry, Viruses in genebank, Reintroduction

Breeding crop plants with deep roots: their role in sustainable carbon, nutrient and water sequestration. Good for soil structure, good for C sequestration, good for yields. What’s not to like?
Ethnopharmacology, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation: Towards a sustainable future for indigenous peoples. Ethnopharmacologists need to think more generally about nutrition, and a lot more about conservation. And a view on the whole “wonder herb” thing from two botanical garden boffins who protest way too much as far as I’m concerned.
Modelling predicts that heat stress, not drought, will increase vulnerability of wheat in Europe. It’s the heat, not the humidity. But maybe wild relatives can help.
The Virtuous Manioc and the Horny Barbasco: Sublime and Grotesque Modes of Transformation in the Origin of Yanesha Plant Life. Maize is the result of a virgin birth, chili peppers of a fart. I’ll buy that.
Is there a forest transition outside forests? Trajectories of farm trees and effects on ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape in Eastern Germany. Yes, but.
Biodiversity and socioeconomic factors supporting farmers’ choice of wild edible trees in the agroforestry systems of Benin (West Africa). Those factors are: how important the trees are for food and medicine and how accessible they are. Still no cure for cancer. Anyway, here’s what ICRAF thinks should come next: domestication, natch.
Pome fruit viruses at the Canadian Clonal Genebank and molecular characterization of Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus isolates. There’s a lot of them. Well that can’t be good, can it?
A long-term view of rare plant reintroduction. A previous review is way too pessimistic.

August 25, 2011August 25, 2011

Nibbles: CWR, Agroecology, Innovation, Tree domestication, Ancient pigs, La vida locavore

Our friends at CIAT showcase our friend Colin showcasing crop wild relatives.
The latest from Olivier De Schutter on agroecology.
How to identify and nurture those elusive agricultural entrepreneurs.
So that they can help you with tree domestication, for example?
Pigs in ancient Egypt.
Is the whole local food thing being taken too far?

August 24, 2011March 23, 2012

Nibbles: European diversity, Cassava bugs, Livestock funding, Malnutrition

Genetic diversity in European men and one of the organisms they exploit. And another.
CIAT cassava entomologist rings warning bell.
ILRI boffins point out why they don’t have enough money. Yeah, but what’s to be done about it?
Malnutrition in Kenya and Guatemala. Are school gardens an/the answer? FAO thinks so.

August 23, 2011February 4, 2022

Harvesting the bounty of weedy greens

That’s Violet, my sister-in-law. She’s harvesting weedy indigenous leafy greens from her (and my) mother-in-law’s farm at Gataka, near Limuru in Kenya. And talking to me about these interesting species at the same time. She’s mainly picking “terere” (Amaranthus hybridus), though she mentions “togotia” (Erucastrum arabicum) towards the end. Also “kahorora,” or pumpkin leaves, though of course that’s not a weedy species. Thanks, Violet.