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Posts Tagged ‘horticulture’
International Horticultural Congress 2010
The International Horticultural Congress 2010 will take place 22-27 August 2010 in Lisbon, Portugal. The event features seminars, workshops, symposia, colloquia and other sessions. There are several events of great interest to the underutilized plant community, for example Symposium S12 on Genetic Resources, Seminar SM08 on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Symposium S07 FAV-Health, Workshop WS10 on Minor and underutilized tropical and subtropical fruits for nutritional security in the XXI century… The revised abstract submission deadline is 31 January 2010.
Please check out http://www.ihc2010.org for more information and the abstract submission tool.
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.
Crop diversity strengthens livelihoods in periurban Hyderabad
In periurban Hyderabad, India, leafy vegetables are increasingly grown along the Musi River and sold in urban markets. This agricultural biodiversity can significantly help urban and periurban farmers become more resilient to the impacts of such changes. Read this article (pdf 5.5 MB) in the latest issue of Urban Agriculture Magazine.
Free CTAHR Publications
The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources / University of Hawai’i at Manoa provides a comprehensive online library of its publications. We specially would like to point our users to the sections
African Indigenous Vegetables: An overview of the cultivated species
Indigenous vegetables have long been regarded as ‘minor crops’ and excluded from research attention, in favour of major food and cash crops. This overview of the most common indigenous vegetables in Africa argues that channeling some ‘R and D’ in their direction could have a significant impact on both food security and health among the continent’s poorest. Indigenous vegetables tend to have short production cycles, require intensive labour but few purchased inputs, and produce high yields with strong nutritional value. They can therefore support rural, peri-urban and urban populations both in terms of subsistence and income-generation, without requiring large capital investments. In some areas they are also becoming popular with commercial growers.
An overview is given of 126 African vegetables, but only the 25 most commonly cultivated crops are covered in detail. The genera are: Amaranthus, Celosia, Cleome, Bidens, Crassocephalum, Solanecio, Struchium, Launea, Vernonia, Brassica, Eruca, Lepidium, Rorippa, Citrullus, Coccinia, Cucumeropsis, Cucumis, Kedrostis, Lagenaria, Momordica, Telfairia, Gnetum, Plectranthus, Solenostemon, Crotalaria, Cyamopsis, Lablab, Psophocarpus, Senna, Sphenostylis, Tylosema, Abelmoschus, Hibiscus, Sesamum, Ceratotheca, Portulaca, Talinum, Solanum, Corchorus, Triumfetta, Asystasia, Cyphia, and Ensete. Subjects include: agronomy, varieties, pests and diseases, related species, botanical aspects, pollination and breeding, distribution, food and nutrition, other uses, marketing and post-harvest treatments. Other subjects are: the socio-economic importance of indigenous vegetables; crop development and promotion; and, main constraints facing farmers wishing to grow African vegetables.
The book can be obtained by writing to NRI Catalogue Services, CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UK and quoting CRG7. The CD can be obtained from NR International, Park House, Bradford Lane, Aylesford Kent ME20 6SN, UK.
This summary was provided by Research for Development
African Women in Agricultural R & D (AWARD)
AWARD – investing in Africa’s future by increasing the talent pool of African women in research and development.
A two-year fellowship for fast-tracking the careers of African women scientists and professionals is at the heart of AWARD. Fellows chosen from across sub-Saharan Africa receive opportunities to strengthen their leadership and science capacities, and are paired with senior scientists in their fields who serve as their mentors.
AWARD grew from a highly successful pilot fellowship program conducted by G&D in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.
AWARD is now accepting applications for the 2009 Fellowships.
Available to women agricultural scientists from: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
The CGIAR Gender & Diversity Program warmly invites applications from qualified African agricultural women scientists for this innovative and exciting fellowship program.
AWARD offers specially tailored two-year career development fellowships, available at three levels: post-Bachelors, post- Masters and post-doctorate.
African women from qualifying countries and conducting research in the following disciplines are strongly encouraged to apply:
Crop sciences (including horticulture), soil sciences, animal and livestock sciences, plant and animal virology, agroforestry, agricultural economics, aquatic resources and fisheries, food sciences and nutrition, natural resource management and ecology, biodiversity conservation, entomology, agricultural extension education, molecular biology (applied to plant/animal breeding), and water and irrigation management.
The deadline for all applications: Monday March 30, 2009
Web: www.genderdiversity.cgiar.org/resource/award.asp