There’s an interesting paper in the latest Pedologia. Researchers grew Cavendish bananas in all combinations of with and without an endoparasitic nematode, and with and without an earthworm. They found that the banana plants did better when there were earthworms around, which slightly alleviated the root damage done by the nematodes and made more nutrients bioavailable. This is a great illustration of the importance of having an understanding of agricultural biodiversity as a whole, in the sense of all the different organisms — including crops, pests, symbionts, whatever — that interact in a farming landscape, affecting each other’s performance. These kinds of interactions are what organic agriculture aims to maintain, and why silver bullets rarely work.
Basmati rice on the rise
India’s Financial Express has a piece describing some of the recent history of Basmati rice. I guess it’s a fairly familiar story, but a couple of things stood out for me as I read it. One was that India and Pakistan “are planning to jointly claim rights for geographical indications (GIs) for this aromatic long grain rice.” Another was that the “European Union … is in favour of duty derogation for import of Basmati having pure parental lines.” So not landraces, just newly bred Basmati varieties? Finally, I found the link between Basmati and organic agriculture intriguing.
Ugandan discussions
Ugandan minister of Agriculture Hilary Onek has been talking to Chinese officials about increased Chinese investment in modernizing Uganda’s agriculture. Onek’s main desire seems to be to increase the use of fertilizers and certain types of high-yielding seed. It sounds like the same old same old, with no thought for either traditional smallholder expertise or their approach to new technology. But maybe all that hi-tech investment really is what Uganda and China need.
Ugandan farmers call home
VOA News has a great article (and some audio as well) describing how a Dutch NGO is helping Ugandan farmers exchange agricultural information using mobile phones. If any of the farmers involved has a problem with their cassava, say, or wants to take up a new crop or variety, or get the best price for their honey, the information they need is often just a phone call or sms away. Farmers have great traditional systems for sharing information, but they are often overlooked or at any rate undervalued by development workers. This approach would seem to be a great way of valuing, strengthening and allowing farmers to build on those systems.
The roots of Darfur
The world is waking up to the fact that competition for an eroding natural resources base is at least a contributing factors to the tensions of Darfur, whose tragic results then further exacerbate the problem in vicious positive feedback. But Jonathan Robinson said so some years back (via ADE). What took so long?