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Africa’s Green Revolution ‘needs indigenous tech approach’
Africa's Green Revolution should be built around the needs of its people, says report
This article on Science development Network (www.scidev.net) on a recent UN report seems to cover a lot of relevant ground to us.
Find it by clicking here.
As it mentions “…the challenge is to find, promote and disseminate innovation relevant to African agriculture.”
Importance of Traditional Food Crops for Community Resilience in Zimbabwe
Photo: Luciano Ghersi
A recent study titled “Traditional food crops as a source of community resilience in Zimbabwe” by researchers from Cornell and Rhodes universities and the Sebakwe Black Rhino Conservation Trust found that traditional food crops, such as mubovora (pumpkin) and ipwa (sweet reed), are an important source of community resilience in Zimbabwe—including resilience to climate change and economic turbulence.
Read more here.
Defining underutilized species included in the “nutrition indicators for biodiversity”
FAO and Bioversity International have developed two nutrition indicators for biodiversity useful to measure biodiversity-related food composition and food consumption of underutilized species (www.fao.org/infoods/biodiversity/index_en.stm).
More information can be found in the document “Specific definition of underutilized species for human consumption”
While reporting upon these indicators, difficulties were encountered in defining underutilized foods. Therefore, FAO and Crops for the Future have developed specific criteria in order to establish the reference list for underutilized foods counting for the nutritional indicators for biodiversity:
Of the following criteria, the first one is compulsory, and several of the others should be met for a species to be included in this list:
- The food was/is/could be used for human consumption.
- May have great potential for contributing to food security and nutrition.
- Mainly local and traditional crops/animals (including insects, amphibians and reptiles) whose distribution, biology, cultivation and uses are poorly documented.
- Receive little attention from research, farmers, policy and decision makers, technology providers and consumers.
- Have weak or no formal seed/animal germplasm supply systems.
- Farmed, reared, gathered or caught in small scale.
- The species must be grown/raised in the country/region where it is underutilized.
Species that are imported do not count as underutilized in that region.
Furthermore, information on country/region of origin should be given.
These criteria, only intended to be used to report on the two nutrition indicators for biodiversity, should not replace the broad criteria that has been defined for categorizing underutilized species as such (www.underutilized-species.org/spotlight/what_are_underutilized_species.asp).
The integration of these specific criteria and the reference list of underutilized foods counting for food biodiversity will be uploaded on the websites of the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species at www.underutilized-species.org/species/about_species.asp and of the INFOODS at www.fao.org/infoods/biodiversity/index_en.stm.
We would appreciate receiving your comments by email (email hidden; JavaScript is required) within the 20th March 2010 on both the criteria and the list before publishing them on the websites.
We look forward and thank you!
Linking, people, places and products – A guide for Promoting Quality linked to Geographical Origin and Sustainable Geographical Indications
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and SinerGI (network for Strengthening International Research on Geographical Indications) are pleased to announce the above publication.
The aim of this guide is to provide local stakeholders with a conceptual framework, concrete illustrationsand methodologies for the promotion and preservation of quality products linked to geographical origin and implementation of GIs.
Download the English version of the guide from the www.foodquality-origin.org
French and Spanish versions soon available….
New Publication on EU Novel Food Regulation
Michael Hermann talks about the impact of European Novel Food Regulations in his article below:
“The impact of the European Novel Food Regulation on trade and food innovation based on traditional plant foods from developing countries”
The stringent food safety assessment for novel foods required by the European Union’s Novel Food Regulation (NFR) places a high burden of proof on those bringing traditional food products to the EU market not consumed in the EU prior 1997. The regulation has emerged as a non-tariff trade barrier for heritage foods from developing countries that are viewed as “exotic” from the EU perspective. We show how the regulation has discouraged investment in supply chains and market development, and how this negatively affects income generation and rural poverty alleviation in developing countries. Focusing on plant-derived foods, this paper proposes to recognize traditional exotic foods in current EU law as a food category sui generis with food safety evidence requirements being proportionate to the risks they may pose. We argue that development activities promoting export food chains must increasingly accommodate legitimate food safety concerns about neglected food species in project design and seek to generate data to enhance regulatory acceptance in target markets.
For more visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2009.08.005
New publication: Underutilized fruits and nuts
Authors: Dr. O. P. Pareek & Dr. Suneel Sharma
Publisher: Pointers Publishers, 807, Vyas Building , Chaura Rasta, Jaipur – 302 003, India.
E-mail : email hidden; JavaScript is required
Publication date: 2009
ISBN: 978-81-7910-282-4
Includes Colour Plates
Price: INR. 5000.00/ $ 250.00
This publication has been brought out in two volumes. The first volume outlines ‘diversity and distribution’ of the underutilized fruits and nuts and provides collated information on their value in ‘food and nutrition security’, in ‘livelihood and income security’, and for ‘development of value added and commercially useful products’ and for ‘rehabilitation and conservation of the ecosystem’. The available information on distribution, uses, botany and culture of 56 subtropical and 39 temperate fruits has also been presented in this volume. Appendices on ‘botanical and other names of the fruits suitable for humid, semi-arid and arid regions of tropical, subtropical and temperate areas’, ‘families, genera and species’ and ‘food value’ of these fruits and their ‘use in agroforestry systems’ have been given.
The second volume provides the available information on distribution, uses, botany and culture of 157 tropical fruits that have potential to be promoted for systematic cultivation. The ‘epilogue’ given at the end of this volume outlines the suggestions on the required activities intended to be of help to develop participatory research and developmental work on the neglected and underutilized fruits.
The fruits of the subtropical and temperate groups (in first volume) and those of tropical group (in second volume) have been further divided into three sections, i.e. the fruits for humid, semi-arid and arid regions to enable selection of the right species for cultivation to suit a given environment. The fruits in each section have been arranged alphabetically according to their common names. Botanical and other names of the fruits and nuts have been given in the text. The book has been illustrated with line diagrams and coloured photographs of several of these fruits and nuts.
Besides serving as a good teaching material on different aspects of the underutilized fruits, the book should be valuable to all concerned with promoting these species in production systems and for utilizing their produce for processing and industrial uses.
Maya Nut (Brosimum alicastrum) project appears on Guatemalan TV
Las tierras del oriente de Guatemala tienen sed y sus habitantes tienen hambre. La sequia termino con la cosecha, la falta de visión y de políticas agrícolas a largo plazo no ayudo, pero no muy lejos de oriente, en el departamento del Petén, nace la esperanza y su nombre es Ramón.
El Ramón es un árbol que crece en el Petén. Es de rápido crecimiento, su follaje es excelente alimento para le ganado y de sus nueces sale una harina altamente nutritiva. Gelio Cuellar, agronomo petenero, cree fervientemente en sus bondades y cree que podrían ser aplicadas en todo el país, porque al Ramón le gusta toda Guatemala. Gelio cree que el Ramón es la respuesta, no solo a la hambruna, sino a la deforestación y el subdesarrollo económico.
Se puede mirar el video aquí: http://www.entremosleaguate.net/
New publication: Food Systems of Indigenous People
Food systems of Indigenous Peoples who retain connection to long-evolved cultures and patterns of living in local ecosystems present a treasure of knowledge that contributes to well-being and health, and can benefit all humankind. This book seeks to define and describe the diversity in food system use, nutrition and health in 12 rural case studies of Indigenous Peoples in different parts of the world as a window to global Indigenous Peoples’ circumstances. A procedure for documenting Indigenous Peoples’ food systems was developed by researchers working with the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment (CINE) at McGill University, Canada, and the FAO. The procedure was adapted and applied in case studies located in Canada, Japan, Peru, India, Nigeria, Colombia. Thailand, Kenya, and the Federated States of Micronesia. The collective intent of this documentation is to show the inherent strengths of the local traditional food systems, how people think about and use these foods, the influx of industrial and purchased food, and the circumstances of the nutrition transition in indigenous communities. This research was completed with both qualitative and quantitative methods by Indigenous Peoples and their academic partners in the context of the second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted in 2007 by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Copies of the book can be ordered from FAO at this website:
http://www.fao.org/catalog/bullettin/08_09.htm
For more information about the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, one of the partners in developing this book, please visit…. http://www.islandfood.org
Nancy J. Pollock talks of the sustainability of the Kava Trade
Sustainability of trade in kava (Piper methysticum), which was severely compromised by a 2002 ban on exports from Pacific Islands to European pharmaceutical companies, has reached a new phase. Exporters vigorously fought the ban, imposed as a result of claims that kava pills, sold as herbal remedies for reducing anxiety, sleeplessness, and depression, were toxic to the liver of individuals who took them. Concerted reaction by Pacific interests such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat led to the formation of the International Kava Executive Committee, which sought ways to get the ban lifted. A 2007 World Health Organization report found that the process of manufacturing the pills was more likely to be toxic to some pill takers than the kavalactones drunk in traditional beverages; quality control and changing the manufacturing process could allow exports of kava to Europe to resume.
To access the article:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/contemporary_pacific/summary/v021/21.2.pollock.html
The European Novel Foods Regulation – The Case of Exotic Novel Foods
After the Novel Foods Regulation was adopted in 1997 it has been subject to much criticism, especially with regards to exotic novel foods from developing countries. This research evaluates the significance of European food legislation on food-exporting businesses in developing countries, in the case of exotic novel food. Food-exporting businesses from Latin American and African countries were interviewed in addition to experts on the area…
This is just a brief introduction. Click on the tiltle below to access the thesis on the NFR Elisabeth Mari Cumming Smith carried out at Wageningen University
For more information on this non tariff trade barrier, you might want to check a web page dedicated to the Novel Food Regulation that GFU started compiling and we continue looking after.