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Featured: ICRAF app

Paulo van Breugel tells us how to look for species that fulfill multiple functions in ICRAF’s new database thingy:

On each vegetation fact sheet there is a link to an excel workbook which lists the species and all their functions of that vegetation types. It allows you to do searches using multiple criteria using filters. See also the short tutorial.

Allrighty then.

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Hacking potato seed systems

How can Solynta make its True Potato Seeds available to developing countries in a socially and economically responsible way, in order to contribute to feeding the world’s growing and often malnourished population?

Good question. And the subject of a True Potato Seeds Hackathon today. The word has been out since July so I’m sure they’ll get a good turnout of clever students and get the problem licked once and for all. Looking forward to the hearing all about it. As no doubt is Solynta. And CIP.

https://twitter.com/Onderwijsloket/status/641524425502892032

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Colin gets doctored

photo (10)Our friend and occasional contributor Colin Khoury has successfully defended his PhD thesis at Wageningen University. As spelled out in a nice summary over at CIAT, where he was a visiting researcher, Colin’s work addressed four crucial questions dear to our hearts here at the blog:

(1) What is the status of diversity in our food systems, and where are the greatest vulnerabilities?
(2) Where can genetic diversity be found that can be useful in increasing productivity and mitigating these vulnerabilities?
(3) Is this genetic diversity available in the present and in the long term?, and
(4) What steps are needed to improve the ability for researchers to access genetic resources critical for present and future crop improvement?

Congratulations, Colin, and best wishes for the future.

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The right tree in the right place

Much excitement at the World Forestry Congress yesterday over the launch of the World Agroforestry Center’s fancy-shmanzy new app.

Long story short, it’s version 2 of a potential natural vegetation map of eastern and southern Africa. 1 You can consult it in a browser, including on mobile devices, in Google Earth, or in your own GIS. Once you know where you are, or where you’d like to grown some trees anyway, you can get an idea of the natural vegetation there, and of what species might do well, for a variety of different purposes (honey production, say, or firewood).

map_screenshot2

Once you’ve selected a likely tree, you can get more information on it from ICRAF’s Agroforestry Species Dashboard. It’ll need a bit more road-testing than I have time for just at the moment, but it looks promising at first blush. One immediate reaction I do have is that it’s not possible to look for species that fulfil multiple functions: honey production and firewood, in other words. But I may be doing the thing an injustice.