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Haiti turns to its local crops

The Economist had an article on food security in Haiti in last week’s edition. It’s worth reading in full, but I’d like to highlight two points here. First, the official in charge of “arable policy” at the ministry of agriculture, one Marcel Augustin, is said to think that

…Haitians should be encouraged to change their eating habits and adopt the diets of their grandparents. Locally grown crops such as yam, manioc, sorghum, sweet potatoes and maize were the staples of previous generations, who had rice [only] as a Sunday treat. They grow easily in Haiti and provide a nutritious alternative to rice… 1

Second, the article points out that USAID has changed its policy from simply handing out foodstuffs imported from the United States to distributing cash vouchers instead, which of course people can spend on locally produced food. Encouraging developments, the effects of which, on agrobiodiversity as well as food security, it will be interesting to follow.

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Brainfood: Phenology & CC, Potato nutrition, Buckwheat honey, Visitors in parks, Urban gardeners, Introgression from wild sheep, Catholic conservation, Tomato domestication

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Landraces on display in Scottish botanic garden

We have sown ancient landrace varieties such as bere barley, which was probably grown in Scotland before the Vikings arrived, alongside modern crop varieties, to illustrate this variation. As the summer progresses the consequences resulting from different selections of these grasses will become clear.

That’s at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden. If you go, and take some photos, we’d be glad to share them here.

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African leafy greens in the mainstream

Really great to see the strides that traditional African leafy greens have been making in the past few years in Kenya. I remember twenty years ago, when I first went there and started working on these plants, decent seeds could only be had from a few specialized farmers in Western Province. Now both seeds and the veggies themselves seem to be all over. And people are willing to pay a hefty premium for them. Truly a success story.