Posts

Posted on

Nutrition boosts productivity boosts nutrition

A new study from IFPRI looks at the link between agricultural productivity and nutrient consumption in Uganda. How does nutrient intake affect productivity? And how does productivity affect nutrient intake?

Using a structural equations model (SEM), estimation results clearly reveal the bidirectional relationship between productivity and nutrient intake. Labor productivity elasticity with respect to nutrient intake varies between 0.04 for vitamin B12 and 0.01 for Iron. Our findings suggest that labor productivity increases agricultural income as one would expect. We also find that nutrient intake as well as labor productivity positively affect agricultural income in Uganda. Overall, results indicate that agricultural productivity in Uganda is likely to be enhanced if nutrients intake is significantly increased.

I think that translates roughly as “win-win”. More than that, I cannot say.

Posted on

Mea culpa

The best thing about blogs is that they allow an immediate reaction. The worst thing about blogs is that, well, they allow an immediate reaction. So it kind of behooves the blogger to highlight the times when more considered reflection might have been appropriate. There have been two such times recently. So let me set the record straight.

First, those pesky cucumbers. It has been pointed out to me that resistance to Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV) has not in fact yet been found, contrary to what I suggested in my post of a couple of days back. I misinterpreted the results of the evaluation data made available on the CGN website, because I don’t know enough about the subject. So no finder’s fee for me, alas. But on the plus side, I did learn a lot about cucumbers. And also that if you’re going to look for data on cucumbers, it helps to know something about cucumbers.

Second, that SE Asia regional seed bank stuff. There I was guilty of jumping to a conclusion. There were clues in the original article, and also in the official documents I dug up, that should have warned me that we were talking here about a repository of relatively large quantities of high-quality seed of new, modern varieties, not smallish samples of traditional landraces. And indeed I was suspicious, and sent out feelers to various people who I felt sure would know more. Sure, the documents were ambiguous, but if I had just waited until the experts’ replies were in, I could have simply clarified the situation, rather than accusing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation of ignoring their national genebanks and the international collections at their disposal in their rush to establish an arguably unnecessary regional structure. So apologies to them. And thanks for teaching me that a seed bank is not always the same as a genebank.

Ok, but of course none of this means that I won’t shoot from the hip again in future. It’s probably way too late for me to learn that lesson.

Posted on

Photos of silk culture in Kenya

Sericulture Slideshow: Wereh’s trip to Nairobi, Kenya was created by TripAdvisor.

Wereh promoted his interesting blog The Youths and Agriculture on a network I joined, and I’m happy to point to it here. Given the popularity of all our posts on raising silkworms in Kenya (and my own fond memories of keeping silkworms as a child) I took a look at a slideshow he’d made. It did rekindle those memories, although I question its real value. Honestly, Wereh, if you’re reading this: a decent photofilm would be much more useful, I suspect. They aren’t hard to make. There are people in Nairobi who might be able to help. Of course it would take longer and be more difficult than handing all your photos to a piece of software and bunging on some loud music and titles, but it would be more satisfying and result in a product you could be really proud of and that might do some good.

I’m embedding the video here with some trepidation, even though I have removed a few of the more gratuitous links. If it clogs up the works, I’ll take it down and just leave a link.

Posted on

A regional genebank for South East Asia

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are going to set up a regional seed bank. Why?

…the proposed seed bank will particularly be useful in addressing seed shortages caused by natural calamities. The setting up of the seed bank … will ensure greater availability of quality seeds and spread of high yielding improved crop varieties, exchange of seeds and plant genetic resources and sharing of practices, technologies and techniques.

After the seed bank comes into existence, SAARC countries can share and grow common varieties of seeds. Currently, each country has its particular variety of seeds and some of them are not grown in other territories, while some are restricted by intellectual property rights.

A bit garbled to say the least, so I tried to go back to the source, and duly found the recommendations of the 16th SAARC summit in 2010. On page 6 a number of initiatives are listed under the heading of “Climate Change, Trade, Agriculture and Biodiversity.” These include the following:

SAARC Regional Food Bank and the need to supplement it with SAARC seed bank — SACEPS presented a comprehensive set of recommendations to the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo, among others, on how to make the SRFB more effective since its early operationalization in view of climate change is crucial. In addition, it is also important for SAARC to consider the need to establish a SAARC seed bank in the region in order to negate the adverse effect of climate change. Community seed banks already exist in a number of countries in South Asia, but on their own they are not viable options to face the adverse effect of climate change. There is therefore a need to link these community seed banks at the national level and then link those national level seed banks at the regional level.

Eh? Most of these countries have national genebanks, some of them quite active. It is indeed important that these national genebanks collaborate with community seed banks and with each other, but this text seems to suggest there are no national level crop diversity conservation activities at all. It also ignores the fact that the international collections maintained by the CGIAR Centres are at the disposal of national breeding programmes striving to adapt crops to climate change. Maybe the proposed regional seed bank will focus on crops not covered by such international collections? Or on vegetatively propagated crops such as taro, banana and sweet potato which are particularly difficult to move around?

There’s also this in the recommendations:

Create a regional database of genetic resources and traditional knowledge — It is also important for SAARC to create a regional database of genetic resources and traditional knowledge and establish a regional access and benefit sharing regime with specific guidelines. The objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), of which every SAARC country is a member, is the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources. In South Asia, India and Bhutan already have national legislations in place, while Nepal has a draft in place and other countries have yet to develop such legal measures. There is need to bring the national legislations at par with the CBD and at the same time develop a regional framework for co-operation in bio-diversity conservation and to define areas of benefit sharing that arise out of the use of bio-diversity. Additionally, it is also important for South Asia to develop a common position for negotiation on the international regime at the CBD level on access and benefit sharing.

Again, many of these countries are Parties to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. One hopes someone has informed the relevant ministers since 2010.