- Sweet potatoes in space. Why?
- Oblong grapes. Why?
- Mega targets of selection. Why?
- Uganda battles cassava and banana diseases.
- Increased bamboo production will not, repeat NOT, put the panda at risk.
- Mandatory disclosure of source and origin for Genetic Resources (GR) and Traditional Knowledge (TK) unpacked. Well, kinda.
- Gates funds cacao, cashew value chain. But not conservation, it seems.
Nibbles: Hell, Honours, Pollution, Darwin, Genomes, Small companies, Tigernuts, Urine soft drink, Medicinal plants
- A way out of hell: workshop on Database Challenges in Biodiversity Informatics
- Potato man honoured.
- Farm diversity reduces nitrogen runoff.
- Darwin on the Farm, from our friends at the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
- Yeast and wheat genome sequencing going gangbusters.
- Coffee!
- Fermented tigernuts more nutritious? No, they’re not from an endangered species. Via.
- Cow water!
- Lots of medicinal plants conservation projects going on in India.
Nibbles: Bananas, Sorghum, Agave, Big vs small, Cauliflower, Wine, Chestnut, Farmers’ rights, India, Aquaculture, Medicinals, Tarpan
- How they grow bananas in Fadan Karshi, Nigeria.
- How they grow sorghum in Karamoja, Uganda.
- How tequila is ruining small farms in Mexico. Or is it?
- How small farms cannot feed Africa. Or can they? Join the debate! Via.
- How the Brits plan to rebrand cauliflower. This I gotta see.
- How the ancient Chinese made wine out of rice, honey, and fruit. Pass the bottle.
- How Georgia is mapping where its chestnuts used to be.
- How farmers’ rights are being implemented.
- How Indian agriculture should move beyond wheat and rice. Ok, but what would everybody eat?
- How microsatellites can be used to help catfish breeding.
- How Ni Wayan Lilir is helping people learn about the traditional healing herbs of Bali.
- How the Brits brought back the Konik.
Nibbles: Agroforestry
- ICRAF gives Cameroon top marks for “planting the right tree in the right place.”
Seek alternatives to maize, Kenyans told
Maybe, just maybe, the tide is beginning to turn away from derivative monocultures in countries where those crops are risky. That seems to be the case in Kenya, where the Daily Nation reports that farmers are being urged to plant other crops that are less risky. David Nyameino, chief executive of the Cereal Growers Association, says Kenya needs a commitment by the government to promote such foods.
Non-maize crops are viewed with a degree of suspicion by Kenyans, to the extent that farmers would rather gamble with the chance of good rains rather than plant them. …
“The government should emphasis on demand for other forms of food beside maize such as sweet potatoes, cassava, beans and peas,†Mr Nyameino told the Sunday Nation. “By this we are not taking away the demand for maize but are creating demand for other foods such as sorghum and millet.â€
Will government, and farmers, heed the message?