I am painfully aware of the risk we run here at the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog of becoming single-issue bores. 1 To a hammer, everything is a nail. And if your thing is agrobiodiversity, you’ll naturally be tempted to think that every problem can be solved by the judicious application of an agrobiodiversity thwack. How refreshing it must be to occasionally think against the grain, and question your most cherished assumptions. That possibility is why — apart from my native contrariness — I so enjoyed a recent paper in Field Crops Research very appropriately entitled “Conservation agriculture and smallholder farming in Africa: The heretics’ view.” 2 Even though it didn’t really have much to do with agricultural biodiversity.
Fermentation in the Himalayas
The recent post on fermentation clearly struck a chord with our friend and colleague Bhuwon Sthapit of Bioversity International. Here’s his contribution to the discussion.
It is interesting to note the myriad different ways in which locally available cereals and other sources of food are fermented by local people through the action of microorganisms, either naturally or by adding a starter culture, which modifies the substrate biochemically and organoleptically into and edible product, generally nutritious, tasty and safe. These inexpensive, culturally acceptable traditional foods provide basic diets and sources of nutrition. In the Hindu-Kush Himalayan region alone more than 20 varieties of ethnic fermented food are found and more than 10 types of fermented beverages are consumed in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. Most of them are common, while other fermented foods are less familiar and confined to particular communities and locations.
Featured: More fermentation
Raymond also weighs in on fermentation, sounding a warning:
Pablo is right when he says that many species in West and Central Africa are noteworthy for their use as fermented staple foods. Genetic diversity plays important role in this as not all varieties give good quality products. Unfortunately some old varieties known for their high value in fermentation are disappearing for their limited yield potential. They are being replaced with high yielding but poor quality modern varieties. Studies also revealed that cropping practices (type and quantity of fertilizer, chemicals used etc.) may impact on the quality of products.
Meanwhile, in another part of the world, canning is making a comeback.
Dancing for agrobiodiversity
I’m reliably informed by my friend and colleague Ehsan Dulloo, who should know, that this Mauritian sega by Gilbert Narainsamy called “Plante Plante” is promoting homegarden planting and sharing agrobiodiversity with neighbours. Sounds good to me!
Conference roundup
We’ve mentioned all of these before, probably multiple times, but let’s do it again. There are two important global conferences coming up in late August.
- 1st International IFOAM Conference on Organic Animal and Plant Breeding
- 2nd World Congress on Agroforestry
Then later in the year there’s another humdinger. It’s like a perfect agrobiodiversity gabfest storm.
As ever, we’re very happy to hear from participants, either as it happens or after the dust settles.