From the attached call for applications

Scientists who are conducting research in the following areas are particularly encouraged to apply, as are women candidates:

Research on orphan (understudied) crops to boost productivity, including

• Amaranth
• African wild mushrooms
• Enset
• Other under-researched important African crops

Deadline for applications is March 30th 2012

THEMES:

• “Wild” indigenous plants and animal origin collected from uncultivated land and forest (e.g. leafy plants, roots, berries, small rodents, and insects) and from aquatic environments (e.g. indigenous small fish, frogs and snails).
• Semi-domesticated indigenous plants and animals, for example gardening of indigenous plant species and culture of indigenous fish species in rice fields in Asia.
• Traditional cooking/preparation and preservation methods: a wide range of household level, small-scale cooking and processing methods applied to improve food properties such as fermentation, soaking, drying, smoking in particular of indigenous foods for enhancing nutritional value.
• Identification of new partnerships and areas of collaboration, particularly in the direction of advocacy, policy and public awareness, research and funding to support food systems that preserve and sustain diverse traditional food cultures in Asia

DEADLINES AND REQUIREMENTS:

Send all submissions in Microsoft Word format. FULL PAPER (including abstract, key words, conclusions, diagrams, references) up to 8 page paper. Please provide your name, affiliation, full mailing address, telephone / fax number and e-mail address. All submissions will be peer reviewed and edited by members of the Organizing Committee. Accepted papers will be published BEFORE THE CONFERENCE (both print and electronic format), that will be copyrighted and widely disseminated.

SUBMISSION OF FULL PAPERS DEADLINE: 1 April, 2012

CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: email hidden; JavaScript is required; email hidden; JavaScript is required;

1) Natural Resources Management
Focuses on management of land and water resources; biodiversity management for food security; and risk assessment and the impacts of climate change on agrobiodiversity

2) Agricultural Competitiveness
Addresses agricultural competitiveness, food security and rural poverty alleviation, natural resources management

Click here to see the universities that qualify for study posts.

Applicants may submit the applications to the respective Ministries of Education of their countries before 30 July 2012.

Click here for the detailed application procedure.

The deadline for applications is 30 March 2012.
Browse the website for more details on the application procedure and fellowship conditions.

A women farmer from India shows her finger millet plants. Photo: S. Padulosi

Some time ago the LEISA journal (Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture) featured an article on neglected and underutilised plant species (NUS). Now AgriCultures (the reincarnation of LEISA under a new name) published an update on international collaborative efforts concerning NUS, highlighting international conferences, collective action, international policies and agreements as well as public awareness activities.

Click to read “Underutilized Species: Where Are We?”

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) (Photo: Forest & Kim Starr, Wikimedia Commons)

Pigeonpea is one of the most important sources of protein for poor people in developing countries, but yields have been low and stagnated during the last 50 years. The authors expect that the availability of a draft genome sequence will open new avenues for pigeonpea improvement through SSR and SNP marker-assisted trait identification and recurrent selection.

Stuffed cucumbers are a delicacy, and if you have travelled in the Andes, you may have come across something even better, namely a dish made from the fruits of Cyclanthera pedata – also a cucurbit – which grow a big cavity wanting to be filled with other food stuffs as if to prove “intelligent design”. There is now much hype surrounding the supposedly “pharmacological effects” from swallowing capsules containing a flour made from the dried fruits, but we derive much greater pleasure from eating a well cooked “pepino de rellenar”, or caigua or achojcha as the fruit is known in mountainous areas of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

We have never seen this crop outside its native range, and so it was quite a surprise when our friend Dr Thimmaiah [email hidden; JavaScript is required], an agricultural specialist advising the Ministry of Agriculture in Bhutan, pointed out to us the popularity of Cyclanthera pedata in that country and neighbouring North-Eastern India and Nepal. Elderly informants in Bhutan remember this crop being cultivated by their forbears so it can’t be a recent introduction. It is now grown all over Bhutan, in kitchen gardens and for commercial purposes, at considerable altitude, particularly in the regions of Punaka (altitude 1000-1200 masl), Trashigang (2200-2300 masl), Chukka (2300-2600 masl), Paro (2400-2800 masl) and Bhumtang (2700-3400 masl).

The common names used in Bhutan for this plant include “slippery gourd”,  “olochoto” and “kichipoktho” (crow’s beak), “korila” (also used for bitter gourds) as well as “ajangkairu” and “carabanthu”. Dr Thimmaiah describes the plant as a vigorous annual climber, which grows up to 5-7 meters length. Propagation is by seeds. The plants are spaced at 1 by 1 meters and staked after the first leaves have appeared. In kitchen gardens the plant is allowed to creep on fences. The first fruits can be harvested in about 45 days after planting, and the plants bear fruits for several months. The plant also does well when cultivated in plastic greenhouses during winter months. Slippery gourds fetch a good price in the market. In the early season it is sold at about US$ 2 per kg, at peak season at about US$1 per kg.

In Bhutan the slippery gourd is cooked with local cheese and chillies. The fruit are cut in halves longitudinally and briefly boiled in salted water. Local cheese and chillies are put to the pan and cooked for another 5 minutes. This dish it is called ‘datsi’ or ‘olochoto datsi’.

Fruits of Cyclanthera pedata produced in Bhutan, cut longitudinally to show the large cavity used for stuffing the fruit in Latin America (Photo: A Thimmaiah)

Seeds of Cyclanthera pedata produced in Bhutan (Photo: A Thimmaiah)

We particularly liked Report No. 4 on “Indigenous knowledge of ricebean in Nepal“. Among other things, farmers know that ricebeans, if grown for the edible seeds, do well on marginal soils, but on good soils produce luxurious and unwanted foliage at the expense of seeds, for example when intercropped with maize. That is the flip side of nutrient efficiency of traditional crops and varieties in relation to the production of storage organs, which tends to go down with increasing intensification, and the associated greater use of fertilisers. There is plenty of examples of crops that behave under eutrophic conditions in the same manner: much vegetative growth but fewer or no seeds, fruits or underground storage organs. NUS varieties have often been selected, and perform well, under low soil fertility but no modern varieties exist that can take advantage of improved soil nutrient status. Indeed, farmers in Nepal believe that this is one of the factors behind the decline of ricebean production. Clearly, promoting NUS for marginal conditions alone may be too simplistic a message!

Lois, a great person with an incredible passion is no longer with us on mother earth since Thursday September 29.

For sure her work has left an important landmark and provides us all with an example on how things should be done – with rigor and especially with your heart!

We remember Lois with a smile and always willing to help and promote the vitamin A rich underutilised bananas from the Island of Pohnpei.

You might be interested in making a donation

A spineless variety of Solanum quitoense now extinct because of pest and disease pressures (Photo: M. Hermann, Ecuador, 1983)

Neglected and under-utilised crops (NUS) are often said to possess high levels of resistance to pests and diseases. Really? We could name quite a few pathogen-susceptible NUS. Also, consider that pathogens build up and may severely limit cultivation once a crop makes the transition from scattered and “insular” distributions to intensified cultivation on a larger scale. Or take specific taxonomic groups such as the nightshades, which “by default” are susceptible to pathogens. A notorious case is the South American lulo (see picture), a worthy contender in any shortlist of the most sprayed plants.

Oftentimes farmers in developing countries have no choice but to use pesticides that have not been tested on a particular minor or specialty crop and therefore are not authorised, a problem that gets far too little attention. This is precisely behind the initiative of the Global Minor Use Portal, to which Luigi has alerted us. Sponsored by FAO and the USDA, the initiative seeks, among other things, to (1) assist the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues in the development of criteria for the establishment of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for minor/specialty crops; (2) advance the topic of international harmonisation in establishment of MRLs and risk assessment by regulators; (3) develop plans for implementation of new policies for minor use regulatory and harmonisation priorities (such as providing incentives to encourage registrants to register minor uses). We applaud this effort very much!