Posts

Posted on

Descendant from a Tangled Bank

Welcome to anyone sent here by the estimable Derwin Darwin II’s time-travelling Tangled Bank blog carnival. In addition to the ag-ec posts we wanted people to see and comment on, he’s individuated a few posts that might be of wider interest to the community here. First off, Larry Moran’s two-part series on penicillin resistance: before 1960 and after 1960. I’m never too sure whether to delight in the diversity of useful organisms that produce antibiotics, or tremble at the waste of bacterial (and not just bacterial) sensitivity that intensive and simple agriculture causes.

There’s a questionable rant about rice engineered to express cholera antigens from S.A. Smith.

Thinkevolution.net has a personal take on the bee shortage and colony collapse disorder. Her dad is a beekeeper.

And the chicken — a species close to my heart — gets a good going over at Matt’s Behavioral Ecology Blog.

Thanks to Greg Laden for giving Derwin Darwin II the space to blog.

Posted on

Namibia examines Access and Benefit Sharing

A meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, is bringing together private sector and government in an effort to develop legislation and practices governing biotrade and bioprospecting, according to an article in allAfrica.com. Namibia is currently drafting a bill on Access to Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge.

According to the report, the private sector is unwilling to stand up and announce a clear approach to ABS.

“They are averse to any negative publicity and believe that prior to any such event it is essential for them to have a clear position and approach to benefit sharing, and for many this is still work in progress,” said Jonathan Laundrey, New Business Manager of Phyto Trade Africa.

The focus on medicinal products, where “benefits” can indeed be very large, is not surprising as Namibia is the primary source of Devil’s Claw, Harpagophytum procumbens, a therapy for inflammation — notably arthritis — and other ailments. The value of exports is estimated at N$10 million a year. That’s “only” US $140,000, but in a country where more than a third of the people live on less than a dollar a day, a bigger share would probably help. An old press release from WHO suggests that organic, sustainable Devil’s Claw is the way forward, but enforcing that requires more than a bill on ABS.

Later … I’ve done a little more digging, and discovered a study published at the end of 2006 that has this to say on the value of Devil’s Claw:

In answer to the question of whether Devil’s Claw is fairly traded analysis of the value chain indicated that harvesters receive only 1.1% of the final consumer price of the active ingredient of Devil’s Claw. Of the final shelf­value, only 7% is retained within the range states, a disappointingly low figure.

Posted on

Pea project, possibly

There’s another attempt to involve schoolchildren in agricultural biodiversity at a site called GeBaPro — Gene Bank Projects. Like one we linked to a while ago, this is also about peas and is also supported by Het Hof van Eden (whose site seems to be undergoing a rebirth). Maybe they are two aspects of but a single project?

The idea is terrific. Get children interested in diversity using a simple subject, of great historical interest, and with all sorts of ramifications that good teachers could use to range widely across almost any curriculum. Link classrooms in Europe with counterparts in Thailand and Bolivia, for example. But — and I hate to be a worry-wart — there just doesn’t seem to be any follow-up. So what’s up? Lack of support? Lack of schools? Lack of something, that’s for sure. If I can help in any way, I’d be happy to, but it is impossible to know what to do for the best.

I suppose they could also try this: “The door is now open for everyone to participate in conservation with this simple activity called e-Conservation. You are invited to participate and to innovate on the content into your area of concern.”

Posted on

Revitalizing Kenya’s drylands

The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) has just kicked off a Kenya Arid and Semi-Arid Lands Research Programme (KASAL) with funding from the European Union. Assistant Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Hassan Sasura, said at the launch that “the fragile pastoralist economies required product diversification and value addition to root out poverty and marginalisation.” That seems to give at least some hope that the programme will pay due attention to the importance of agricultural biodiversity. Let’s hope so.

Posted on

Pest and disease watch

California is synonymous with fruits and vegetables. An omnivorous pest would be a terrible thing. Cue the light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana. LBAM, as we’re being familiar, would be better known as LBEM, the light brown everything moth, according to one expert quoted in the New York Times, because its larvae munch on just about anything green, including the grape vines of Napa county where it has just been found in large numbers. Omnivory suggests that diversity is unlikely to be much protection.

Then there’s potato wart ((I far prefer the alternative name Black Scab, but that’s probably just me.)), caused by the fungus Synchytrium endobioticum. It is so long-lasting in the soil that even though the direct economic losses are small, it causes enormous indirect losses as farmers are prevented from growing potatoes, according to a (long and thorough) story from the American Phytopathological Society. It’s even on the Federal Bioterrorism list for agricultural plant pathogens. Diversity might help there, if resistance can be found.