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Competition news

First, a word of explanation. We took a vow of silence yesterday. No posts, no nibbles, nothing to detract from the global gloriousness of Miss Hathorn and Robert, competition winners extraordinaire. But of course we were both hot to trot this morning, so much so that we both nibbled independently. ((These things happen with a distributed system.)) That has now been fixed, with today’s monster bowl of nibbles.

Anyway, that has given us a chance to do the needful as far as our winner and runner-up are concerned, and adhere them to Association Kokopelli. Proof below. In addition, Miss Hathorn gets a packet of seeds of something called New Red Fire, a lettuce.

Of course, we could have faked the whole thing, and in a world of cut-throats and frauds we forgive your general skepticism. But we didn’t, and we hope that Miss Hathorn and Robert will return to share the joy they are getting from their prizes.

Thanks

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First winner of agricultural biodiversity competition announced

For immediate release
Rome, Italy, 22 April 2008

The No. 1 web site for agricultural biodiversity, the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog, today announced the winners of the first annual agro.agro.biodiver.se competition.

On being told the news by email Miss Hathorn, creator of My Favorite Things, a video tribute to backgarden biodiversity, wrote: “Well, (blush), I don’t know what to say. I want to thank …”

“We think this is as fitting a way to mark Earth Day as any we’ve seen,” said Luigi Guarino, beer enthusiast and co-blogger.

Miss Hathorn, working at her allotment, trumped the multi-million dollar International Rice Research Institute by 23 votes to 6.

“The people have spoken. Who am I to argue, some sort of aging African tyrant?” Robert Hijmans, IRRI researcher, asked rhetorically.

Being a cutting-edge sort of person Miss Hathorn already owned an iPod, the competition’s munificent prize. She asked that the prize money be donated to Association Kokopelli, recently fined for having the temerity to place unregistered crop varieties on the market, thus encouraging agrobiodiversity where it isn’t wanted.

“Kokopelli has no easy way to donate money,” said co-blogger and aesthete Jeremy Cherfas, “so we decided to buy a year’s membership for Miss Hathorn. There was enough left over to get membership for Robert Hijmans, runner up.”

There will almost certainly be a new competition announced soon, according to Cherfas and Guarino.

“We also have something up our sleeves for 22 May, the International Day of Biodiversity,” they said, in unison, “so stay tuned.”

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How much would Kenyans pay for yellow maize?

We’ve blogged a few times about the preference for white maize in Africa, despite the nutritional advantages of the yellow kind. A recent paper in Food Policy puts some numbers on that. It also gives an historical explanation for the preference, at least for Kenya:

The high demand for maize for the war industry and the support of strong lobbying efforts by European settlers, combined with pest problems in millet and sorghum, made maize the major food crop in Kenya by the time of the First World War. A major turning point was when the marketing board started to refuse to buy yellow maize. From then on, only white maize was grown in the central highlands. The maize research program in Kenya, one of the most successful in the region, produced many improved varieties but, given the established market preferences and focus on the highlands, all those were white. It can thus be argued that the dominance of white dent varieties in East Africa was a case of path dependency, caused by a range of favoring factors ([Rubey et al., 1997] and [Smale and Jayne, 2003]). Furthermore, once people are used to a particular food with particular characteristics these characteristics easily become preferred traits.

The numbers are striking. In a survey conducted at small mills, kiosks and supermarkets, 600 consumers asked for a price discount of a third to a half for yellow maize. They were willing to pay a premium for fortified maize, but of only 6-7%. The adoption of biofortified varieties clearly faces a daunting challenge:

We conclude that substantial efforts will be needed to make biofortified, yellow maize varieties acceptable to the urban consumers. A reduction in price would clearly help, and lower income consumers would be more responsive, but the price difference would have to be substantial. Formal education seems to increase the preference for white maize and has no effect on the preference for fortified. Therefore, special educational and awareness programs seem indicated. Further research is, however, needed to assess what information and awareness is needed for consumers to change their behavior. To develop appropriate awareness campaigns, the sources of this type of information need to be assessed.

What price leafy greens?