Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015

Marketing baobab

Just back from two weeks in Kenya, where I was too taken up with work and family to blog much, but not nearly enough to neglect Twitter. And of course Jeremy has been busy over at Eat This Podcast, so I’m sure you didn’t miss me. Much.

I did manage to score some neglected species goodness in Nairobi. This is baobab fruit pulp. You soak it in boiling water, strain it, and mix it with milk (and maybe sugar) for a really tasty, pleasantly tart, drink. Some ladies from West Africa taught us the process. And also procured the raw material, which can apparently only be had in a Somali suburb of Nairobi called Eastleigh. But I see no reason why the juice shouldn’t be sold at Java, Art Cafe or other trendy eateries in more mainstream, let us say, neighbourhoods. Then all those factsheets might actually have been worth it.

You can get nice #baobab #fruit pulp (with embedded #seeds) in Eastleigh, apparently #Nairobi #kenya

A photo posted by Luigi Guarino (@ggguarino) on Jun 16, 2015 at 3:46am PDT

June 8, 2015June 16, 2015

Brainfood: Eastern promise, Biodiversity databases, Pulse carotenoids, Castor oil breeding, Maya beans, NUS and water, Chinese Vitis

An ethnobotanical perspective on traditional fermented plant foods and beverages in Eastern Europe. 116 taxa, with a preponderance of Rosaceae.
Estimating species diversity and distribution in the era of Big Data: to what extent can we trust public databases? Trust, but verify.
Genetic diversity of nutritionally important carotenoids in 94 pea and 121 chickpea accessions. There’s carotenoid diversity in the Canadian collections.
Role of conventional and biotechnological approaches in genetic improvement of castor (Ricinus communis L.). We have the technology. What we don’t have is results.
Phaseolus from Cerén—A Late Classic Maya Site. The wilds were also eaten.
The Potential Role of Neglected and Underutilised Crop Species as Future Crops under Water Scarce Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some neglected species may be somewhat adapted to low water conditions, perhaps.
The wild relatives of grape in China: Diversity, conservation gaps and impact of climate change. 15 of 39 species need help, especially as the range of many is expected to be reduced by climate change.

June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

Fun ePhyto facts

I really look forward to receiving Fresh, the AVRDC Newsletter, every month. There’s always at least one thing of interest, which is all you can ask for in a newsletter. I would prefer that clicking on a link in the email alert took me to the full online version of the article I want to read, rather than to a big pdf to download and wade through, but I won’t quibble.

The article that caught my eye on this occasion was this one:

The creation of a new global electronic certification system that will help curb the spread of plant pests and diseases through international trade in a more secure and cost-effective way has been approved by representatives from 181 countries.

The Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), the governing body of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), agreed in March 2015 to develop a global system of electronic phytosanitary certificates, known as ePhyto. The complex, bureaucratic process whereby millions of paper phytosanitary certificates are created, printed, and exchanged between countries each year will eventually be replaced by this online system. The current paper certificates serve to reassure importers that plant products, including food, have been inspected and found to be free of pests that could devastate local economies by harming agriculture or the environment.

ePhyto is expected to simplify and reduce the cost of global trade, increase the ability of countries to identify items that pose a high risk, and reduce the potential for fraud. The CPM endorsed a request to the Standards and Trade Development Facility of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to provide funds for the initial establishment of ePhyto.

The IPPC is also planning a pilot project to build capacity in developing countries to enable them to join ePhyto on a gradual basis. Several countries are already using some form of electronic certification, including Australia, Canada, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States.

Will be interesting to see if this makes life any easier for genebanks distributing germplasm. And I wonder whether we’ll eventually see integration of this system with that of the SMTA.

But anyway, don’t let me stop you reading the whole newsletter. There’s other fun stuff in there, for example a story about a new African eggplant variety that’s making quite a splash.

June 4, 2015

Getting the agrobiodiversity message out

The veritable comms machine that is Bioversity International has been stuck in high gear of late. There’s a fancy shmancy new infographic on agrobiodiversity, reproduced here without permission (let them sue me). And also a photo competition on Women and Agricultural Biodiversity, which is also a nice idea. Maybe I’ll even submit something.

June 4, 2015June 4, 2015

Ruralium commodorum

Medievalists.net has a great article today on the yearly cycle of farming activities, as illustrated in a 15th century manuscript. It reminded me that I really ought to link to FAO’s crop calendar database one of these days.