Marty Sachs and Candy Gardner talk about maize genetic resources, sensu very latu. Thanks, Biofortified and Elizabeth.
Agriculture vs biodiversity. Still.
Without biodiversity there will be no agriculture.
Well, that got my attention. Because no possibility of breeding new crop varieties, right. Biodiversity as in crop wild relatives, for example. No crop wild relatives, no landraces: no more agriculture. Right? Well, not quite.
Farming practices should not jeopardize species survival: improving farmland diversity and reducing the usage of pesticides and fertiliser are key efforts to saving biodiversity. Organic agriculture practices can serve as an example in many areas.
Which is all true, of course. And IUCN does have its constituency. I understand that. But we really do need to do something about this yawning chasm between the two communities.
FSN Forum closes seed discussion
FAO’s online Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) has just concluded its discussion on “Strengthening Food Security by Empowering Farmers to Contribute to Seed Biodiversity.” A proceedings and summary are available. There were about a dozen contributions. All very well informed, but nothing that was said struck me as particularly novel, including what I contributed. But I’m just be a jaded old curmudgeon. See what you think.
Kyrgyzstan’s fruits and nuts in peril
Fauna and Flora International and its partner in Kyrgystan, the Kyrgyzstan Ecological Public Foundation (TAZA), are trying to take the pressure off the country’s rich fruit and nut forests by introducing alternative energy sources.
TAZA is helping to trial solar energy in fruit drying, stoves, and water heaters in several villages. The reaction from local people is already positive, though the scheme is in its early stages.
There must be a lot of places around the world where something similar has been tried. Any meta-analyses of such interventions?
Diversity, diversity everywhere
Food-based strategies are essential to tackle malnutrition and help vulnerable populations cope with environmental change. Genetic modification, crop diversification and soil management can improve access to vital micronutrients.
More research is needed to identify nutritious crop varieties and analyse indigenous and wild species for their nutritional content. In particular, maintaining genetic diversity within home gardens and local agroecosystems can help improve nutrition.
Music to our ears, of course, but the tune goes back to 2002. Odd — and slightly disappointing — that SciDev.Net could find nothing more up to date on this subject for their recent nutrition blitz. Anyway, good to have the agrobiodiversity song played, however old.
Another piece in the SciDev.Net feature looks at the human genetics dimension of the problem. We’ve talked about that here before. You don’t just need to understand how micronutrient content, say, varies among crops and crop varieties, but, as if that wasn’t enough, also how people vary in their ability to make use of these compounds.