Mongabay writes about a newly published study of cacao farming in Indonesia. The bottom line seems to be that while clearing the forest is more profitable, at least short term, growing cacao under a thinned canopy maintains the diversity of wild species and reduces environmental impacts. But some economic incentive may be needed to promote this option over clear-felling. That option, they note, could be premium priced shade-grown chocolate, just like premium coffee.
White grapes are mutants
Thought that would get your attention. Actually, what the research summarized here revealed was that a couple of genes mutated independently thousands of years ago in the ancestor of the modern grapevine, whose berries were red. The resulting white variety proved to be the ancestor of almost all of the 3000 or so white grape varieties we have today. This discovery from CSIRO will apparently be useful in marker-assisted breeding.
Peppers fight flab
It seems that capsaicin, the stuff that gives hot peppers their zing, prevents immature fat cells developing into the fully-fledged sort. At least in laboratory experiments – but at levels not unlike those found in the stomachs of people who’ve just eaten a Thai meal. So, rather than jogging today, I’m going for a curry.
Unchaining cassava in Africa
Via “Timbuktu Chronicles,” a fascinating blog by Emeka Okafor about African entrepreneurship and innovation, comes a link of a 2005 Common Fund for Commodities paper on the development of the market for cassava in Africa. The bottom line seems to be that the commodity chain needs to be strengthened and supported by appropriate and sustainable services. Given the cassava boom that has been sweeping Nigeria of late, that may in fact have happened since the paper was written. Other recent entries on Emeka’s blog look at honey and community genebanks. This RSS feed is going straight into my reader.
Breeding orphan crops for Africa
News arrives of a conference on New approaches to plant breeding of orphan crops in Africa. To be held from 19-21 September 2007 in Bern, Switzerland, the conference promises to
“bring together scientists both from developed and developing countries and discuss techniques that could be implemented in a scheme of orphan crops improvement. In addition, future prospects and feasibility of modern biotechnology in African agriculture will be addressed. Success stories will also be presented by prominent scientists.”
All fine and dandy, of course, and we’re looking forward to the results. But we’re impatient. So here’s our offer: if you’re going to the conference, why not become a guest blogger for the occasion?
We’ll supply everything you need — a user identity, a password, even some basic training. All you need is the motivation, the computer, the ticket to Bern etc etc. And in return, we can offer the undying gratitude of lots and lots of readers. How about it? Use the form to contact us, or just send an email.