- A systematic literature review on the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in South Africa. Things look bad, but crop and livestock diversity (among other things) can help. If only they can get out to farmers I guess.
- Reconciling conservation and development requires enhanced integration and broader aims: A cross-continental assessment of landscape approaches. Correction, I meant out into the landscape.
- Towards gender-transformative metrics in seed system performance measurement: insights for policy and practice in Sub-Sahara Africa. How do you know if crop diversity will be able to get into those farming landscapes? You need these gender-transformative metrics. Things like the number of community seed banks serving women and youths, for example.
- Cowpea grain sales by women and men traders in local markets of Senegal. Women seed traders need help scaling up. Maybe community seed banks could help?
- Promoting new crop cultivars in low-income countries requires a transdisciplinary approach. Maybe women seed traders could help.
- An experimental approach to farmer valuation of African rice genetic resources. Farmers are willing to pay as much for landrace seeds as for improved varieties, and those who know about landraces are willing to pay more for their seeds than those who don’t. Good for those women traders to know.
- Restoration seed and plant material supply chains are complex social networks. And not just for restoration, I’d say.
The World Food Prize goes to genebankers
Well, it’s all over now, and very moving it was too. You can read about the 2024 World Food Prize laureates here, and also watch edited highlights of the ceremony.
Wonderful to see Cary and Geoff — and genebanks — properly recognized.
Me? I was taking pics of the agrobiodiversity.
More on the event from here.
Brainfood: Heraclitus, Cocoyam, Pollen, Dry chain, DSI, Global Biodiversity Framework
- Will a plant germplasm accession conserved in a genebank change genetically over time? Sure, change is inevitable, but it can be minimized, and some can be accepted.
- Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) genetic resources and breeding: a review of 50 years of research efforts. Conventional breeding, based on inducing flowering, is possible, but will require more international exchange of germplasm. I hope someone is saving the seeds.
- Pollen banking is a critical need for conserving plant diversity. Even if it changes genetically over time.
- Applications of dry chain technology to maintain high seed viability in tropical climates. You’ve got to dry your seeds fast and hard. Probably your pollen too, come to that.
- Harmonize rules for digital sequence information benefit-sharing across UN frameworks. The big question is, should there be a single trigger point for monetary benefits, or separate ones for each treaty? At least the sequences do not change over time. But what about if the accessions from which they are derived do?
- Involving citizens in monitoring the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Yes, let’s get citizens to help us monitor all that change.
Mind the gap between crop diversity and nutrition
With all eyes on Cali for the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP16), it is timely to have a close look at National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) from different perspectives. Do they properly address plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, for example? And if they do, do they make the link to nutrition?
That latter question is investigated in a new report from the Initiative on Climate Action and Nutrition (I-CAN), entitled “Biodiversity and Nutrition Synergies: Evaluating National Biodiversity Strategies and Actions Plans for Integration.”
Spoiler alert:
The majority of NBSAPs mention food security (74%), indigenous knowledge (73%), and genetic diversity of crops (65%) yet did not link these concepts to nutrition. This presents a foundation and opportunity for future NBSAPs to develop these linkages…
So, out of all NBSAPs analysed, 168 (65%) mention genetic diversity. But of those, 99 show “no intentional connection between biodiversity and nutrition.”
Here’s an example from the report of an NBSAP that does show a connection, to show that it’s not difficult, really:
In describing the status and trends of biodiversity in Malawi, the NBSAP covers flora species diversity. Here, the NBSAP lists 14 species (e.g., Dioscorea bulbifera or yam, Curcubita maxima or squash, and others) that have a high nutritive value but are declining in production due to being out competed by major crops. The NBSAP also considers the contribution of different sectors to the country’s total protein supply.
So, overall, lots of missed opportunities to make an even stronger case for the conservation of biodiversity, in Cali and indeed elsewhere.
The latest on the Carolina African Runner Peanut
Jeremy’s latest newsletter discusses the (partial) revival of the Carolina African Runner Peanut by chefs. We have blogged about that here on before, but this is a useful update.
Believe it or not, there are other food podcasts worth listening to. One of them is Gravy, produced by the Southern Foodways Alliance. Recently I listened to the episode America’s Lost Peanut and the Price of Bringing it Back and I have no hesitation in recommending you do the same. It explores both the delight chefs have found in that Lost Peanut and the difficulties in making the peanut available at a price that non-chefs can afford.
The Carolina Runner peanut first hit modern headlines at the tail end of 2016, when it was exciting enough for me to record a little rumination casting doubt on some of the wilder claims that surrounded its resurrection. I also wrote at some length about the history of the peanut and world affairs. I did not, however, foresee how hard it would be for the Carolina Runner to compete with Virginia peanuts (which have more than a drop of African peanut in their bloodlines). The episode of Gravy explains that the nuts currently have to be shelled by hand, unlike Virginia peanuts that can be fed into huge and expensive machines. A quick look around the internet showed a few hand-operated shellers; is it really that difficult to adapt one to work with Carolina Runners?