The Food Security Center (FSC) in Germany is inviting applications from M.Sc. and Ph.D. students from Latin America, Africa and Asia to participate in a Summer School on “Food Security for Tropical Smallholders” in Costa Rica. The curriculum of the event also covers the nutritional benefits of under-utilised crops and their application in improving food security. Other topics include effective agricultural methodologies and the application of aquaculture. A total of 12 lucky applicants will be selected for this learning opportunity. Costs for air tickets will be covered by the conveners from your nearest airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, as well as the equivalent of 500 Euro for lodging, meals and local transportation. However, the closing date draws near at 17 September 2011. So, hurry and submit your CV and intention letter to Prof. Dr. Victor M. Jimenez (email hidden; JavaScript is required). Further information can be found here. We bid you all the very best!

A news item we picked up from Rural 21

Award-winning Quinua cookery book by Peruvian women

“El Camino de la Quinua” was awarded the second prize in the category Best Latin World Cookbook at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, the most important cookery award in France with 136 participants.

The cookbook contains information on nutritive value, cropping and processing and easy-to follow recipes for meals and desserts contributed by Peruvian women from the Regions Puno, Ayacucho, Cusco, Cajamarca und Huánuco. Peru and Bolivia are the main producers and exporters of Quinua followed by Ecuador and Columbia.

The renowned Gourmand World Cookbook Award has “Oscar” status in the world of cooking and wine literature and since 1995 has awarded prizes to the best new publications worldwide. The prize was initiated by Edouard Cointreau, of the Cointreau liquordynasty.

Download book (Spanish only) by clicking here

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About the Movimiento Manuela Ramos and from the International Women’s Health Coalition web site

Founded in Lima, Peru in 1978, Movimiento Manuela Ramos (Manuela Ramos Movement) has grown from a small grassroots organization to a regional leader in promoting women’s health and rights. Movimiento Manuela Ramos focuses on promoting gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights, stopping violence against women, and enabling women to become economically independent and politically active.

The Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre Desarrollo at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia has opened three lectureships in the following fields:

1) environment and development

2) public policies, public management or public finances and economy

3) organizations, innovation, technological development and their role in development

Note that candidates have to be able to lecture in Spanish.

Closing date for applications 11 December 2009. The positions would start April 2010.

For details on the selection process and the job descriptions please contact Catalina Villegas, head of academic programs at CIDER, at this e-mail address: email hidden; JavaScript is required

Dr Andy Jarvis, a researcher with CIAT and Bioversity International has been awarded the Ebbe-Nielsen Prize for his achievement in agrobiodiversity research. Andy has produced groundbreaking studies on the importance of conserving  underutilized crops and crop wild relatives, and has used geographic modeling to predict the impact of climate change on agriculture. Using this novel technology, Andy and his team also mapped the distribution of hundreds of important underutilized species, evaluated their state of conservation, and provided practical suggestions for their long-term conservation. The studies resulted in some unsettling predictions of what climate change will do to these wild species, many of which have valuable genetic traits that can be used to improve domesticated crops and enhance global food production.

Congratulations, Andy, from the team at Crops for the Future!

Read more in CIAT’s Newsletter.

Erika Vohman, not a new face to many of us from the Equilibrium Fund is a CNN hero!
She works with people teaching them to sustainably use the forests and the Maya nut (Brosimum alicastrum) that grows in Latin America and elsewhere. The fruit of this plant  is an undervalued treasure, also from the people that inhabit the forest itself!
Read and watch the video and if you have heroes to suggest, let us know or contact CNN directly!

edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/16/cnnheroes.erika.vohman/

More about Maya nut

• Seeds of inspiration – website including movie
• Seeds of inspiration – pdf information
• Maya Nut (Botany Photo of the Day – In science, beauty. In beauty, science. Daily.)
• Maya Nut (GFU Species Brochures)
• Seed initiative
• GFU Maya Nut post
• Centro de recursos the informacíon sobre Brosimum alicastrum
• Maya Nut Trees Make A Comeback (WRI)
• Feature story from the GFU web site