Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Afiniki Bawa Zarafi remains concerned about taro leaf blight: Please what has been the finding of CABI/ Global plant clinic in respect to this coocyam leaf blight/ taro leaf blight? I am also interested in the result /findings of other scientists working on this disease. And he’s right. More than a year ago in a …
We’ve blogged a few times about the emerging threat of taro leaf blight in West Africa, and what could be done about it. In case anyone was still in doubt about this threat, here comes the science. The sequence analysis, morphological characteristics, and pathogenicity test confirmed the taro leaf blight pathogen as P. colocasiae. There …
Over at Pestnet, plant protection experts are wondering why taro varieties resistant to leaf blight are just sitting around in Pacific genebanks rather than making their way to Cameroon, where the disease has just been spotted. I find it quite quite extraordinary that we cannot attract donor support to avert a food crisis in Cameroon. …
Continue reading “Taro resistant to leaf blight ready to go”
Hell of a week in the office again, so catching up on accumulated Nibbles on a Sunday. Because we’re here to serve. Cynical, funny take on farmers’ markets: “No, I don’t save seeds. That’s time-consuming nonsense for backyard gardeners. Yes, I’ve heard of Monsanto. I’m a farmer. I know about goddamn Monsanto.” Uncynical double from …
Koreans breed bite-sized apple for breath-freshening. Why can’t I find a picture? Climate change bad for genetic diversity too. Tell that to taro in Cameroon. Lager yeast came from South America. Thank you, Argentina! And more on long-distance microbe movement. Field Gene Bank of Threatened Plants from the Western Ghats threatened. Man’s 16-inch chili may …