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GeneflowA P U B L I C AT I O N A B O U T A G R I C U LT U R A L B I O D I V E R S I T Y

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Norway to Build Fail-safe for Genebanks

Global Trust Established to Fund Conservation

Special Section: Diversity and Nutrition

Managing EditorRuth D. Raymond

Assistant Managing EditorCassandra Moore

InternNicholas Lilly

DesignPatrizia Tazza

LayoutFrances Ferraiuolo

Cover PhotoMother and child at a health clinic, Burao, Somaliland, Liba Taylor/Panos pictures

© International Plant Genetic Resources Institute 2005

ISBN 13: 978-92-9043-694-2ISBN 10: 92-9043-694-8

Geneflow ’05 A PUBLICATION ABOUT AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY

IPGRI is a Future Harvest Centreof the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

ContentsGeneflow NewsThe Global Crop 1 Diversity Trust

Norway to build 2 ‘fail-safe’ conservation site on Arctic archipelago

Agrobiodiversity can 3 heal wounds

Rebuilding lives after 4 the tsunami

The EU Novel Food 5 Regulation: an unintended trade barrier

Understanding the 6 value of diversity

The Fruit Book helps 7 Brazilian communities understand the value of their forests

Loss of cultural 9 diversity a serious threat

The many faces of 10 taro: the revival of Hawaii’s favourite crop

Diversity and Nutrition

Biodiversity for 11 nutrition and health

Dietary diversity a key to nutrition 12

Foxtail millet enjoys 13 revival in India

Traditional foods 14 could improve health in the Pacific and beyond

Island food community 15 of Pohnpei promotes a healthier diet in the Pacific

Biofortification for more nutritious crops 16

Wild relatives boost 16 zinc levels in wheat

Spreading the good 17 word about moringa

Scientists predict 18 African fruit trees could help solve major public health problem

Home gardens for a 19 healthy future in Nepal

Wild and uncultivated 19 foods: a healthful alternative

Combating vitamin A 20 deficiency with orange-fleshed sweet potato

Nutritious tubers: the 21 Livingstone potato

Traditional vegetables: 22 healthy and empowering

New skills help enrich 22 home gardens in Nepal: a farmer’s tale

Rocket renaissance: 23 an Italian favourite goes global

Forest-to-town, sago- 24 to-rice: the changing diets of Borneo’s hunter- gatherers

Mayan communities 25 conserve and use nutritious crops

Geneflow NewsArmed conflict the 26 leading cause of world hunger

Impact of HIV/AIDS 27 on agriculture continues to grow

Wild relatives for better 28 crop performance

Unlocking the 29 genetic vault

Safeguarding date 30 palm diversity through partnership

Ancient plants get 31 a new lease on life

DNA banks: a 32 worldwide survey

New World Fruits 33 Database

Agrobiodiversity 34 and art: painting contest attracts young students

Organic bananas 35 in Peru

Trade and totomoxtle 36

Including foods high in vitamins and minerals—such as tomatoes and chillies—in people’s diets can help protect against the hidden hunger that stems from a lack of micromutrients

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1Geneflow News

The Global Crop Diversity Trust

The realization of a dream—a dream that has the potential to benefit the whole world—came closer to reality over the past 12 months with the legal creation of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Under ‘construction’ for a number of years, in October 2004 the Trust received the final government signature needed for it to be established as an independent international organization.

A few months later, the new organization came under new management when Dr Cary Fowler replaced Dr Geoffrey Hawtin as Executive Director of

the Trust. Dr Fowler, an American, is no stranger to the world of crop diversity conservation. While at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in the late 1990s, he led the process to assess—for the first time—the state of the world’s plant genetic resources. In addition, he led the process that resulted in the adoption of the Global Plan of Action for crop diversity conservation and use by 150 countries at an international conference at Leipzig, Germany, in 1996.

“Nearly my entire career has been concerned with salvaging the world’s endangered collections of agricultural biodiversity,” said Fowler. “The State of the World Report confirmed the needs; the Global Plan of Action provided the blueprint for action. Today, for the first time, the Trust is offering a concrete solution to an environmental and development crisis: the loss of the crop resources that provide the first line of defence for farmers seeking food security under marginal and continually evolving circumstances.”

The Trust is raising an endowment to meet the operational costs of maintaining the world’s most important crop

diversity collections. These collections are the best source of the raw material farmers and breeders need to develop hardy, dependable, productive and nutritious crops. They contain traits that will allow crops to cope with climate change, pests and disease, as well as to increase crop yields to feed the ever-growing human population.

Determining the most important collections is a major challenge.

“There are about 6.5 million accessions held in 1400 collections around the world,” said Fowler. “There is a great deal of duplication among these collections—possibly up to 60% overall. Our goal is to promote a rational and thus cost-effective approach to conservation, which assigns priority to unique and valuable collections of the world’s most important crops. To get there, we are supporting an ambitious process to develop a series of regional and crop-specific conservation strategies whereby genebank managers and crop experts identify the key collections, on a regional and crop basis, and determine how they might work together most effectively to ensure the conservation of these key collections. These strategies

will provide the basis for the Trust to determine its own funding priorities.”

Initially, the Trust will concentrate on providing funding support to collections of the crops included in the multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The negotiators of the Treaty agreed that these crops, which include both globally important staples such as wheat, rice and maize and regionally important crops such as millets and food legumes, are the most important for food security around the world. Eventually, it is hoped that, as endangered collections of Treaty crops become stable, the number of crops supported by the Trust will expand.

By Ruth Raymond, IPGRI

Cary Fowler became Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust in August.

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For the full list of the crops on the International Treaty, please see Annex 1 of the Treaty at ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/it/ITPGRe.pdf.

The Interim Panel of Eminent Experts has served as the Trust’s executive board since 2003.

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2Geneflow News

The Government of Norway recently initiated planning for the construction of an international seed depository to serve as an ultimate ‘fail-safe’ back-up facility for genebanks. The facility will be established near the town of Longyearbyen, on Svalbard, at 78° north and will open in 2006 or 2007.

As currently envisaged, the depository will be large enough to conserve a copy of all distinct accessions now held in genebanks around the world. It will be located in a ‘vault’ carved out of solid rock inside a mountain and lined with a metre of reinforced concrete. There will be two air-lock doors, perimeter fencing and other security devices.

The remote location, the presence of Norwegian authorities and the occasional wandering polar bear will combine to make this facility the most secure and reliable in the world. Under normal conditions, collections will be housed at approximately -18°C. As the vault will be located in permafrost, any long-term electricity failure would only result in the temperature gradually rising to -3.6°C.

The town of Longyearbyen, a dropping-off point for expeditions to the North Pole, is served by daily air flights and has excellent infrastructure and power supplies using locally-procured coal.

The seed depository will not be a genebank in the normal sense of the term. Instead, it is intended to house distinct accessions that are already conserved and duplicated in traditional genebanks, which would serve as the source of seed for plant breeders and researchers. Materials from the Svalbard depository, stored under ‘black-box’ conditions, would be available only when all other copies had been lost, in keeping with the intention of providing a safe and secure facility in the case of large-scale catastrophes such as nuclear war or major acts of terrorism.

Participation in the scheme will be purely voluntary. Management will be passive; the depository will not engage in characterization, evaluation, regeneration or other conservation activities. The Nordic Gene Bank, based in Sweden, will be responsible for placing materials in the depository and retrieving them as necessary. The Nordic Genebank already has its back-up collection in a facility at Svalbard and duplicate collections from the Southern African Development Community are also stored there. As the facility will be designed for the international community, Norway will not claim any ownership over the

seeds stored there, but it will likely require that the materials be legally available under the framework of rules established by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Commission on Genetic Resources and the Global Crop Diversity Trust have warmly welcomed the Norwegian initiative and many countries, as well as the Future Harvest Centres of the CGIAR, have already signalled their desire to make use of the depository.

By Cary Fowler, The Global Crop

Diversty Trust

Norway to build 'fail-safe' conservation site on Arctic archipelago

The depository will be located in a vault carved out of a mountain near the town of Longyearbyen on Svalbard.

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Svalbard has a large polar bear population (the sign reads 'polar bears are everywhere in Svalbard').

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3Geneflow News

In an initiative called ‘Healing Wounds,’ the Future Harvest Centres of the CGIAR assessed their nearly three decades of experience in helping countries rebuild agricultural production following conflicts and natural disasters. Many of the cases involved the restoration of agricultural biodiversity.

One of the first concerns following a major crisis is whether there will be adequate seed available to allow people to grow their food crops in the next season. The CGIAR assessment concluded that there is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

Farmers’ traditional seed systems can withstand short conflicts as long as the crop in the field—which will serve as next year’s seed source—is not destroyed. Such was the case in Rwanda following the 1994 conflict, where it was discovered that farmers were able to continue to grow their traditional varieties of beans with no interruption or loss of material. Longer disruptions, such as the conflicts in Afghanistan and East Timor and those where traditional seed systems were actively targeted as in Cambodia, resulted in large losses of farmers’ traditional varieties. Since

government infrastructure and institutions tend to be targeted during wartime, seed production and distribution facilities, such as those established for potato in Rwanda, are likely to be damaged, along with the scientific expertise for managing them. Significant investments are required for restoration, usually through foreign aid.

Well-meaning relief agencies often rush insufficiently-tested seed into an afflicted zone, which undermines the local seed systems that may well have survived the crisis. Instead, rapid diagnostic surveys should be conducted to find out what seed (if any) is needed by farmers and where it can be sourced. If local seed systems have survived, relief agencies can help them rebound by providing farmers with vouchers that they can use to buy seed locally. If seed needs to be restored, the diagnostic surveys can often find the right local varieties in similar agro-ecosystems in neighbouring countries or in genebanks, rather than bringing in maladapted seed from afar. Regional research networks often provide the scientific expertise and seed resources that may have been lost in the conflict or natural disaster.

Genebanks played a crucial role in restoring crop diversity lost during emergencies in Cambodia, across Africa and in the Middle East. These instances highlight the value and importance of accurate characterization and documentation of genebank accessions, so that the right materials can be found quickly and targeted appropriately.

Beyond restoration, the Healing Wounds assessment found that agrobiodiversity could be used to help societies rebuild. In the Solomon Islands, wracked by ethnic conflict, unemployment is being addressed by stimulating small-scale

enterprises based on high-value specialty species such as ornamental fish, black pearls, giant clams and sea cucumbers. The efforts emphasize community management, sustainable practices and connection to markets so that employment and income gains will last.

By Mark Winslow

Agrobiodiversity can heal wounds

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The Healing Wounds report can be downloaded at www.cgiar.org/pdf/healingwounds.pdf

Diverse seed colours reflect Rwanda’s amazing bean diversity, which survived the 1994 conflict.

4Geneflow News

On 26 December, 2004, at 00:59 GMT, an earthquake unleashed a massive tsunami that travelled thousands of kilometres across the Indian Ocean, wreaking havoc on the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India and taking the lives of more than 200 000 people.

The small coastal village of Dodanduwa, in Sri Lanka, was devastated by the tsunami. IPGRI has worked closely with the people of this community for a number of years through the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT).

Dodanduwa is situated in the district of Galle. In this district alone, the tsunami caused more than 30 000 deaths and left about 835 000 people homeless. The villagers of Dodanduwa lost family and friends. The waves swept away their homes, tools, equipment and crops. Livestock and planting material were either carried out to sea or buried in mud and sand.

With its partners and the generous contributions of its staff, IPGRI put together a project to help restore the livelihoods and natural resources of the 400 families living in Dodanduwa.

Before the tsunami, the villagers had taken part in a COGENT project designed to reduce poverty in coconut-growing communities. The project was implemented through the Dodanduwa’s Women’s Collective, a community based organization led by women. “People were happy and optimistic about their progress,” said Pons Batugal, COGENT coordinator. “But just as they were on their way to improving their own lives, the tsunami disaster struck.”

The fact that COGENT had worked with the villagers before the tsunami had its advantages. “We know

about their basic livelihood assets, which can now be tapped for rehabilitation,” said Batugal, adding that the personal relationships with the people of Dodanduwa were also already in place, which helped to make the project successful.

Batugal visited Dodanduwa with partners from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Siyath Foundation (a local NGO) and the Coconut Research Institute (CRI) of Sri Lanka to assess the immediate needs of the villagers and to establish how best to use the rehabilitation fund established by IPGRI and its staff. “We have to ensure that financial support is used to return families to economic life. That is why we consulted the villagers to see what they wanted,” said Batugal.

The rehabilitation fund stands at just over US$22 000. IPGRI staff members personally donated one-half, which IPGRI matched dollar-for-dollar. IWMI, CRI and the Siyath Foundation are also providing funding.

The villagers made it clear that their priority was to start earning again as quickly as possible. The project will provide them with coconut

fibre and the tools they need to make ropes and doormats and other items for sale. A coconut drier will also be purchased, along with a machine to extract coconut oil. With the popular tourist resort of Hikkaduwa City only a short distance away, the sale of coconut oil could prove a highly profitable business.

The villagers also asked the project to provide them with seeds and animals so that they could feed themselves again. The Asian Seed Association provided Dodanduwa with high-quality seed. Chicken, cattle and goats were distributed as well. IWMI provided technical assistance to help the villagers meet their needs for drinking and irrigation water. The project also supported the establishment of seedling nurseries. The Coconut Research Institute and Siyath Foundation helped with coordination and capacity building.

Villagers asked for training on coconut, poultry and livestock production as well as other farming skills. The women of the village asked for the men to be trained in skills such as carpentry and masonry. In this way, they will be able to earn some extra money by helping to rebuild homes lost in the

Rebuilding lives after the tsunami

IPGRI staff were delighted to learn that Nita Kalupahanage, who was featured in the 2004 IPGRI calendar, escaped from the tsunami. Although she was dragged out to sea by the waves she was able to cling to a tree and survived.

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Scientists have long believed that the abundant crop diversity available in many developing countries could enrich the food baskets of European consumers. Consumers agree. Today, tourism, the food habits introduced by immigrants, growing wealth and the nutritional and health-promoting properties attributed to foods from ethnic, organic and fair trade markets have prompted a new interest among European consumers in the food traditions of other cultures. The benefits are potentially significant from a development as well as a nutrition perspective: increased trade in exotic produce could provide livelihood prospects to the poor countries of the world

But despite the growing demand for greater dietary variety, the ‘new’ foods do not have easy access to European Union markets. Recently enacted laws require that all foods must be subjected to a safety assessment if they were not consumed in the EU to a significant degree before 15 May 1997. There are fears that the Novel Food Regulation EC 258/97 places an unreasonably high burden of proof on the small companies that bring traditional food products from developing countries

to EU markets. “Although the regulation has emerged from food safety concerns, it has turned out to be an unintended trade barrier,” said Michael Hermann, IPGRI’s Senior Scientist for Genetic Diversity.

Determining whether or not a product is subject to the regulation represents the first stumbling block as such information is not easily available. Once determined to be novel, the product faces another barrier: a long and complicated process to gain market access. The applicant is required to submit scientific evidence that the food does not present a danger to consumers and that its consumption is not nutritionally disadvantageous. The regulation overlooks the fact that these exotic yet traditional foods are far from novel in their countries of origin. And generating the scientific data required to show that the novel foods are safe often exceeds not only the capacities of small-scale producers and exporters in developing countries, but also the capacities of the generally small importing companies in Europe.

If an application is successful, authorization is only granted for a specific product. Any other products derived from the same raw material require separate

authorization. Moreover, not only is authorization limited to a particular product, but it is also restricted to the applicant: anyone else who wishes to place the same product on the market must also undergo the application procedure. The length, expense and uncertain outcome of the admissions process—applications are frequently denied—have discouraged potential traders of specialty foods. As a result, both producers in developing countries and consumers in the EU are losing out.

However, a long-awaited amendment to the Novel Food Regulation may provide an opportunity for change. Over the past three years, the EU has invited stakeholders to share their experiences with the regulation and to make suggestions for improvement. In a joint initiative, the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species (GFU), IPGRI, the Bio Trade Facilitation Programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Deutsche

Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) have campaigned to heighten awareness of the implications of the Novel Food Regulation for trade with developing countries. The campaign highlights the inconsistency between development policies and consumer protection in the EU. The partners have proposed an approach that would take into account the interests of both producers in developing countries and consumers in the EU, while at the same time respecting food safety concerns. Proposed changes include greater recognition of historic traditional food use outside of the EU, simplified safety testing and easier market access for similar products from different producers as well as for the array of products drawn from a single plant species that has already been shown to be safe.

By Michael Hermann and Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon,

IPGRI

5Geneflow News

The EU Novel Food Regulation: an unintended trade barrier

tsunami. The women also asked to be trained as manicurists and pedicurists as a way of earning some extra income quickly. The project will provide this and other types of training for the villagers to help them improve their skills and expand their livelihood options.

The tsunami had a devastating impact on the community’s natural resources. The mangroves that surround Dodanduwa used to be home to various forms of wildlife, but these were either completely uprooted or severely damaged. Under the leadership of the Siyath Foundation, the project will work to clean and replant the mangroves.

The project is still in its early stages, but it is hoped that the villagers of Dodanduwa will soon be on the road to recovery. The tsunami destroyed the lives of many, causing more devastation and loss than it is possible to comprehend. By focusing on one village, IPGRI hopes to make a difference.

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

Despite its long history of use in Polynesia as a source of traditional food and medicine, noni had to be temporarily withdrawn from the

market after it was challenged by the EU Novel Food Regulation. Noni juice is now once again available to European consumers. M

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For more information, visit the GFU website: www.underutilized-species.org

For years, the Mazahua, a community of indigenous people living in the hills of Mexico, have grown a variety of black maize that produces blue tortillas, a traditional food that the Mazahuans value highly, not only for its unusual

colour but also for its taste. Demand for blue tortillas has now spread to urban areas, turning the cultivation of black maize into a lucrative business and prompting more and more farmers to grow the variety despite its low yields. Had it not been for Mazahua farmers, this variety of maize might have

disappeared from Mexico’s fields a long time ago.

Farmers are infinitely knowledgeable about the diversity growing in their fields and adept at making use of it to manage their production systems. They know which varieties are best suited to certain types of land and how best to use diversity to manage their soils, water and other elements of their production systems. Yet, much of this knowledge has remained untapped and overlooked by science.

A new project funded by the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and entitled ‘People, Land Management and Environmental Change’ (PLEC) is studying 30 sites around the world, including the area occupied by the Mazahua, to better understand how and why farmers manage diversity on their farms.

One of the project’s sites is in Uganda, where farmers may grow up to 25 varieties of bananas on one farm. Each variety fulfils a different function. Some are grown for the ecosystem services they provide. For example, varieties planted on the edge of the banana grove are resistant to windthrow (when trees are uprooted by excessive wind) and

therefore serve to protect the more vulnerable varieties of banana that are grown further in. Others might be grown for their flavour, for their fibre, or for their use in brewing beer.

However, banana diversity is not the only thing that is important to this agricultural system. The diversity of landscapes also has an important role to play. Hilltops, slopes and valley bottoms all offer different challenges and opportunities for farmers, who make use of crop diversity to respond. A particular species of grass, for example, might be grown in a grove because it traps water and sediment. On the slopes, leguminous crops are grown along with cassava and cereal varieties because they are more suited to the landscape.

“Our researchers are interested in showing how species mix together on farm, how they benefit from each other and how land use needs and requirements for food, shelter and security are met by rural people,” explained Michael Stocking, Scientific Coordinator of the PLEC project.

The project is also investigating why farmers use certain farming techniques and why they decide to grow one crop

over another. In some cases, the reasons behind these decisions are relatively straightforward. For instance, Ghanaian farmers prefer to grow a local variety of African rice instead of paddy rice because it tastes good, takes less time to cook, keeps well and is a favourite for weaning babies. However, why they choose to grow this variety only on one part of their farm and not on another is not so obvious and requires scientific attention.

The PLEC project aims to raise awareness among policymakers about the value of diversity in agricultural systems. “I think many of us have been alarmed by the trend towards growing a single crop and heavy reliance on external inputs,” Stocking said. “PLEC is helping us to learn how very diverse agricultural systems cannot only support people, but also protect the environment and be sustainable over the long term.”

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

Source: New Agriculturalist on-line, ‘Taking a closer

look at agrobiodiversity’.

6Geneflow News

Understanding the value of diversity

Agricultural biodiversity can help strengthen the resilience of farm systems. In the Yunnan province of China—a PLEC site—, farmers grow several varieties of rice to protect their crop against pests and diseases.

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If you were travelling along the Capim River, a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil, and were hard pressed for something to read, you might consider a rather special book entitled, ‘Fruit Trees and Useful Plants in the Lives of Amazonians’—more popularly referred to as ‘The Fruit Book’.

The first of its kind, The Fruit Book shows local Amazonian communities, through a series of pictures, the comparative worth of their trees based on timber and non-timber value (such as fruits, medicinal oils, game and fibres). In this way, the book helps locals make informed

decisions when they are approached by logging companies who want to buy their trees. Informing communities about the market value of their forests and the contributions that forest products make to their livelihoods can help ensure that the trees are conserved. The book contains data on over 20 tree and palm species that are widely used by people living in the Amazon.

“It’s a book to be used,” said Patricia Shanley from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). “It’s supposed to be dirty and ripped up.” Shanley is an ethno-ecologist and co-editor of the book.

The book was created with its user group very much in mind. Many of the locals along the Capim River have scant formal schooling and are illiterate. The illustrations and graphics in the book synthesize complex data and make it easy to understand.

The book has particular implications for women. “Women are the caretakers of their family’s health and nutrition. They can be greatly affected by logging and timber sales because they lose access to critical sources of food and medicine,” said Shanley.

Some of the trees that grow in this part of the Amazon are used for their fruits, which provide an important nutritional supplement to people’s diets, and for their medicinal oils. Women are in charge of feeding and nurturing their families. As such, they are often highly knowledgeable about the nutritional and medicinal values of the trees in their forests. Despite this knowledge, women have had little say over the sale of wood to logging companies in the past. The book arms them with the kind of proof they need about the value of their trees to be able to enter into informed negotiations with loggers.

Shanley’s work on The Fruit Book began more than ten years ago when she was approached by the Rural Workers Union of Paragominas. The union perceived that the Caboclos, a group of peasant farmers living along the Capim River, were being persuaded to sell their trees in exchange for the equivalent of a few dollars because they were unaware of the true value of their forests. The union asked Shanley to assess the value of the forests and to estimate whether other options, such as harvesting wild fruits from the

7Geneflow News

The Fruit Book helps Brazilian communities understand the value of their forests

The Fruit Book has been particularly important for empowering women by giving them proof of the value of their forest products.

continued on p.8

forests, might make better economic sense for the farmers than selling timber.

The communities identified three types of fruit trees that they considered priorities: bacuri (Platonia insignis), uxi (Endopleura uxi) and piquia (Caryocar villosum). The Caboclos, especially the women, were highly knowledgeable about these trees and their uses, including the type of game they attracted. Shanley collected scientific data about their flowering and fruiting. Another finding was that the loss of certain tree species had a larger impact on the lives and diets of the

community than the loss of others. This led Shanley to conclude that selling piquia trees to loggers for a few dollars made little sense. “Their value lies in providing prized fruits, as well as flowers which attract more game than any other species,” Shanley said.

Shanley’s studies also revealed that the flowering and fruiting pattern of some of the tree species were unpredictable and would not always provide communities with enough produce for them to sell.

Shanley and her colleagues wanted to do more with

these findings than just present them in scientific journals. Responding to the demands of local communities, they held workshops along the Capim River and in other areas affected by logging. Realizing that she and her team would never reach all the communities in need, Shanley and her Caboclo colleagues came up with the idea of The Fruit Book. “The book doesn’t tell people what to do,” Shanley said. “It provides them with options.” In this way, the farmers can better determine which trees they want to sell and which to protect. Some communities

have created community forestry reserves to conserve particular species of trees. At the request of the Brazilian government, the book is being disseminated through training workshops for practitioners in health, forestry and education.

Gloria Gaia, a Caboclo and a fieldworker in the project, believes that the book has been particularly important for empowering women. “It used to be men who decided what to do with the forests. Now that women have proof that forest products and their roles as collectors really matter, they have become much more courageous. They have learned to say no to the loggers.”

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

Adapted from an article by Charlie Pye Smith that

appeared in ‘The New Scientist’ on 19 July 2003.

Piquia (Caryocar villosum) fruit is rich in oils used for food, soap and as cooking oil.

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For more information contact Patricia Shanley at CIFOR p.shanley@cgiar.org

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Loss of cultural diversity a serious threat

Geneflow News

It is well documented that the loss of biodiversity threatens the health of both humanity and the environment. However, the loss of cultural diversity may pose a threat that, although not as evident, is just as serious. In a recent report, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned that the world must be wary of the continued disappearance of traditional knowledge, a vital reservoir of experiences, insights and skills accumulated over millennia. According to UNCTAD, up to 80% of the world’s population depends on products and services derived from traditional knowledge and practices. Over 90% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa is produced using customary farming practices. Traditional knowledge is also essential for the management of ecosystems by local communities.

The decline of traditional knowledge manifests itself in the disappearance of one of culture’s most distinctive characteristics—language. According to the most recent edition of ‘Ethnologue: Languages of the World,’ published in 2005, 516 languages worldwide are now classified as nearly extinct.

That’s almost 100 more facing extinction than when the previous edition of the language encyclopaedia was produced four years ago. In the Pacific region alone, over 200 languages have nearly died out. Globally, ‘Ethnologue’ recognizes 6912 distinct languages.

Each of these languages represents a culture whose traditional knowledge is attuned to a particular environment. With the loss of a language, the world also loses the ability to tap that culture’s unique reservoir of environmental intimacy. Not only do we lose an economic resource—a culture capable

of producing unique goods and services for subsistence and trade—but we also lose the ecological knowledge gathered by that particular culture over generations.

It is this resource which is perhaps most irreplaceable. The disappearance of ecological knowledge—knowledge of agricultural methods, of wild fruits and animals—represents a blow to our ability to conserve biodiversity effectively. The conservation of human diversity, it seems, is vital to the conservation of environmental and biological resources and thereby vital to human well-being.

By Nicholas Lilly, IPGRI

The publication on which this story is based is

entitled, ‘Protecting and Promoting Traditional

Knowledge Systems, National Experiences and International Dimensions’ (Sophia Twarog

and Promila Kapoor, Editors). It can be downloaded at

www.unctad.org

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More than 200 languages have become extinct in the Pacific.

10

In Hawaii, the extraordinary value of taro is manifest in its numerous important roles: as a staple food, as a figure of legend and as a symbol of cultural identity. Taro—or kalo as it is called in Hawaii—has been cultivated in Polynesia for over two thousand years. Introduced to the islands in the early centuries of the Common Era, native

Hawaiians transformed taro farming into an art form. During peak production periods, they cultivated hundreds of varieties in flooded patches called lo’i.

While all parts of the plant can be eaten, it is the corm that became the starchy staple of traditional Hawaiian diets. Cooked and then pounded into a grey-purple paste called poi, taro is said to be very nutritious. However, cultivation of this labour-intensive crop has diminished to negligible levels due to high production costs, disease, weather and—as with many traditional crops—increasing imports of cheap, processed foods.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in taro’s nutritional and cultural value. Worldwide, the globalization of food production has had some unexpected negative effects on health. Diseases formerly associated with the diets of wealthier, developed regions—diets high in processed foods and often low in diversity—have grown in prevalence in developing countries. The Pacific region is no exception to this trend, with diabetes and obesity, in particular, affecting increasing numbers of people. The reintroduction of taro and other nutritious

traditional foods has been hailed as a potential solution to the region’s worsening health.

The drive to preserve and promote taro cultivation, is partially fuelled by Hawaiian mythic tradition. According to Hawaiian legend, taro has divine origins. The first child of two gods, Wakea and Ho’ohokukalani, was stillborn. Following his burial, the baby’s body transformed into the first taro plant. The second son of the gods, called Haloa, is said to be the father of all native Hawaiians. Taro, then, is a progenitor of native Hawaiian culture in its own right, an ancient crop that is quite literally part of the Hawaiian people.

This sentiment is fuelling the rebirth of taro in Hawaii. At the annual East Maui Taro Festival—now in its 13th year—thousands of people come together to celebrate the cultural importance of taro. Through poi-pounding demonstrations, visits to refurbished lo’i and the annual taro pancake breakfast, Hawaiians discover in taro a living link to past customs. The Taro Festival has also provided a venue for the resurrection of dormant cultural traditions: visits from voyaging canoes constructed using ancient Polynesian methods as well

as traditional welcoming ceremonies not seen in Hawaii for hundreds of years, have occurred as a result of the Festival.

International recognition of taro’s importance has paralleled this revived local interest. The US branch of the Slow Food Foundation—an international organization dedicated to promoting agricultural biodiversity and to fighting the destructive effects of fast food on world cuisine and health—has selected several Hawaiian taro varieties to be included in its ‘Ark of Taste.’ The Ark of Taste is a catalogue of foods from around the world deemed to be of unique culinary and cultural significance, foods whose production is in decline and whose promotion may provide economic benefits.

Today, both local and international trends inspire the hope that taro and other traditional plants can still serve as rallying points: symbols of cultural unity and nutritional pathways to improved health and well-being.

By Nicholas Lilly, IPGRI

The many faces of taro: the revival of Hawaii's favourite crop

Geneflow News

Eleele Naioea is a popular taro variety in Hawaii.

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Since agriculture began some 12 000 years ago, approximately 7000 plant species and several thousand animal species have been used for human food. Today, some traditional and indigenous communities continue to use 200 or more species in their diets but the general global trend has been towards diet simplification, with consequent negative impacts on human food security, nutritional balance and health.

The problem of malnutrition, particularly the so-called ‘hidden hunger’ caused by missing micronutrients, constitutes a formidable challenge for the future.

Agricultural biodiversity has a crucial role to play in mitigating the effects of micronutrient deficiencies, which debilitate hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, particularly children and women. Increased dietary diversity is the key to combating this trend and guaranteeing healthier lives.

A well-nourished, healthy workforce is a precondition for successful economic and social development. In developing countries, agriculture and related activities often constitute the main source of employment and income. Thus, direct investment in improving the nutritional status of

rural populations is likely to have a significant pay-off in raising labour productivity and incomes.

Agricultural biodiversity can also serve as a safety net for vulnerable households during times of crisis, as well as offering income opportunities to the rural poor and sustaining productive agricultural ecosystems.

The Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and IPGRI recently forged a partnership to promote the use of agricultural biodiversity in programmes to improve food security and nutrition. The objective of this effort is to contribute to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, particularly to reducing by one-half the proportion of hungry people in the world by 2015.

Approaches to implementing the partnership were discussed at an expert consultation on biodiversity and nutrition held in Brazil in March 2005, just prior to a meeting of the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition. Participants proposed to focus on three areas of work:

1) Substantiating and promoting awareness of the links between agricultural biodiversity, food and nutrition;

2) Mainstreaming the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity into agendas and programmes related to nutrition, agriculture and poverty reduction;

3) Promoting activities that contribute to improving food security and human nutrition through more sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity.

Having recognized the benefits of rallying behind a common goal, participants committed themselves to carrying out an inventory of the existing knowledge—including published scientific studies, indigenous and local knowledge and case studies—as well as preparing a policy review for publication. They also vowed to promote and facilitate the development of pilot activities, including an inter-sectoral project on biodiversity for food and nutrition in Brazil, with a view to eventually implementing similar activities throughout the world.

By Margarita Baena, IPGRI

Biodiversity for nutrition and health

A growing proportion of the world’s urban poor largely depend on processed foods that are high in energy but low in other nutrients vital to good health.

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For further information contact Pablo Eyzaguirre, IPGRIp.eyzaguirre@cgiar.org

David Cooper, Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversitydavid.cooper@biodiv.org

Florence Egal, FAOflorence.egal@fao.org,

or Barbara Burlingame, FAObarbara.burlingame@fao.org

Or visit www.biodiv.org/programmes/areas/agro/food-nutrition/default.shtml

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IPGRI has been working with partners around the world to ensure that policy-makers and planners give due weight to dietary diversity as a means to deliver better health and nutrition. In April 2005, an international consultation in Chennai, India, brought together more than 100 participants to ask how agricultural biodiversity can help to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Organized by IPGRI

in concert with the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and the Global Facilitation Unit for Underutilized Species, the consultation agreed on a platform for action that sets out concrete ways in which governments and others can make use of agricultural biodiversity to fight hunger and poverty.

“The Action Plan was sent to Kofi Annan for consideration by the UN General Assembly

which is examining progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said Professor M.S. Swaminathan, winner of the World Food Prize.

“The world needs to broaden its vision of agricultural biodiversity,” said Emile Frison, Director General of IPGRI, at the consultation. “It can deliver so much more than just improved varieties, not only better nutrition but also resilient harvests that are much more sustainable.”

IPGRI organized a seminar at the first international Conference on Health and Biodiversity (COHAB), held in Galway, Ireland, in August 2005. Speakers at COHAB called for research to substantiate the links between dietary diversity and nutrition and health.

“We need more quantitative evidence,” concluded Frison. “However, we already have more than enough qualitative and circumstantial evidence to say that unless governments and policy-makers embrace agricultural biodiversity and make it part of their plans for tackling hunger and malnutrition, they are going to find it very difficult to honour their commitments to meeting the Millennium Development Goals.”

By Jeremy Cherfas, IPGRI

Dietary diversity a key to nutrition

The Millennium Development Goals call for the world to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger before the year 2015.

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A booklet, ‘Meeting the Millennium Development Goals with Agricultural Biodiversity’, is available from IPGRI.

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Foxtail millet originated in Asia, where farmers have grown the crop for nearly 5000 years. In South India, foxtail millet—popularly known as navane—was a staple until about 40 years ago when it began to fall into disfavour, stigmatized as a poor man’s food. Now, thanks to the work of an enthusiastic farmer and the Green Foundation, a small non-governmental

organization, the highly nutritious crop is enjoying a well-earned revival.

The Green Foundation works with about 4000 households in 90 villages in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in South India. Nearly 70% of the villagers live below the poverty line. Virtually all of the farming families are smallholders, with properties of less than two hectares. The principal crops grown in the region are finger millet (called ragi), rice, pulses, oil seeds and mulberry. Until recently, changing food trends and the tedious process required to process navane led to the neglect of the crop.

In 2004, the Green Foundation launched a major campaign to promote the use of foxtail millet in the region, citing the high nutrient value of the crop. The campaign began with a single farmer. Shantamma was distressed that her village of Kanavemadhapura, situated in the hilly regions of Anekal Taluk, Bangalore Rural District, had stopped cultivating navane. She recalled that navane had served as emergency food during shortages and was extremely valuable in times of drought.

Foxtail millet is a short duration crop and very resistant to pests, disease and drought. Rich in iron and calcium, it provides a nutritious food for people and valuable fodder for animals. The grain is ground into flour or cooked and eaten like rice or in puddings. Navane is considered to be an ideal food for people suffering from diabetes and gastric problems. In the Himalayas, it is used to treat chicken-pox.

Determined to revive the valuable food security crop, Shantamma communicated her concern to the Green Foundation, which agreed to help. People from nearby villages pitched in and eventually a handful of seeds were collected from a farmer’s field. With the help of the Green Foundation’s research team, the Self-Help Group, a women’s organization that includes Shantamma among its members, prepared a small demonstration plot for the millets.

Shantamma‘s enthusiasm and the Green Foundation’s efforts to promote foxtail millet paid off as neighbouring farmers began to wake up to the crop’s value. Today, navane is

grown widely and marketed throughout the district. A series of community genebanks have been established to ensure that foxtail millet will be around to help people through hard times for years to come.

By Vanaja Ramprasad, Green Foundation

Foxtail millet enjoys revival in India

Shantamma helped to inspire the return of foxtail millet to her region.

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Foxtail millet has been newly embraced as a nutritious food and a valuable fodder.

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For more information, visit www.greenconserve.com

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Traditional fruits and vegetables, which have all but disappeared from modern diets in the Pacific, could hold the key to solving major health problems associated with the region’s growing levels of vitamin A deficiency. A diet high in vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids is essential at all stages of life. It contributes to a healthy immune system and protects against chronic diseases such as diabetes, some cancers, obesity and heart disease. Severe vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness, developmental problems and even death, especially for children.

Combating vitamin A deficiency, however, is not always easy. Problems encountered in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) reveal

some of the difficulties faced in alleviating the deficiency in the Pacific.

Like much of the Pacific, the people of FSM display growing levels of vitamin A deficiency. And the problem, it seems, is a relatively new one. New foods introduced from outside FSM are quickly replacing traditional foods in people’s diets. Although these imports, which include rice and sugar, may be convenient and have a higher status, they are often not as nutritious as local produce. Cultural stigmas may also render nutritionally-valuable traditional vegetables unappealing. For instance, nutrient-rich leafy green vegetables such as kangkong, chaya and pele are often used as animal fodder in FSM and are therefore considered unfit for human consumption.

Culinary preferences can also limit the nutrient benefits received from consuming certain crops. In FSM, mango and papaya are eaten when they are green. At this stage, fruits that could provide high levels of carotenoids later in the season actually offer little nutritional sustenance. Seasonality, regional availability and general palatability also contribute to difficulties in promoting

certain crops in the fight against vitamin A deficiency.

However, carotenoid-rich cultivars of generally accepted crops—including banana, pandanus, breadfruit and giant swamp taro—may provide a solution to some of these difficulties. In the FSM state of Pohnpei, 11 local banana cultivars have been found to be high in provitamin A carotenoids. Although the ‘Karat’ cultivar of Fe’i bananas has received much attention for its high carotenoid levels and traditional use in weaning babies, another variety of Fe’i banana called ‘Uht en yap’ was found to provide even more carotenoids. In fact, ‘Uht en yap’ contains 250 times the amount of beta-carotene found in the common ‘Cavendish’ banana.

Likewise, carotenoid levels vary among FSM’s pandanus, breadfruit and giant swamp taro cultivars, with certain varieties of pandanus fruit and taro displaying significant levels. Some cultivars also contain high levels of other essential micronutrients. For example, several cultivars of the ‘Mwahng’ variety of giant swamp taro were discovered to have high levels of zinc, a mineral required for growth and immune protection. Zinc, normally obtained from

meats and dairy products, is not typically found at such high levels in plants.

Local resources do exist in FSM to combat vitamin A deficiency. Although these and other traditional plant varieties in the Pacific may have fallen out of favour due to the rising demand for imported foods, they are in fact nutritional storehouses that could reduce the growing prevalence of poor nutrition in the region and protect against chronic disease. The promotion of such foods is not without obstacle. FSM’s ‘Taiwang’ banana, for instance, contains large amounts of carotenoids but is widely regarded as pig food. Such carotenoid-rich banana varieties are increasingly rare. However, if we are able to tap into the historic importance of these plants in traditional diets, to re-access their cultural acceptability and promote their cultivation, the nutritional benefits could be enormous.

By Nicholas Lilly, IPGRI

Traditional foods could improve health in the Pacific and beyond

Carotenoid-rich banana cultivars, such as ‘Uht Mwas’, a Fe’i banana, promise a solution to vitamin A deficiency in Micronesia.

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A new non-governmental organization (NGO) is helping communities in the Federated States of Micronesia to reassert their agricultural self-sustainability. As it relates in its mission statement, The Island Food Community of Pohnpei is dedicated to promoting “the production, consumption, local marketing and, if feasible, export of locally grown island foods”. The NGO points to the benefits of its activities: improved diets resulting in better nutrition and health, improved food security, improved livelihoods and, as a result of the organization’s community-oriented structure, a stronger sense of cultural identity.

The Island Food Community combines traditional research with public

awareness activities. The organization’s research team, led by Dr Lois Englberger, is investigating which local plant varieties are richest in essential micronutrients, such as zinc, and in the beneficial carotenoids used to construct vitamin A.

These findings underpin the organization’s public awareness activities. Local media, brochures, photo identification cards, posters and calendars are all used to promote the high levels of carotenoids to be found in traditional foods. Emblazoned with the reminder to ‘Grow and Eat YELLOW’—a reference to the finding that a yellow-orange colour is often a sign of high carotenoid content in bananas and pandanus fruit—the public awareness materials describe the health benefits linked to consumption of these fruits, chiefly protection against vitamin A deficiency and a variety of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

The NGO sponsors informative health workshops and an annual agricultural fair held on World Food Day to encourage greater use of local crops. The 2004 agricultural fair included speakers on nutrition,

recipe contests using local plant varieties and competitions in which carotenoid-rich cultivars were awarded cash prizes. The competitions help to reinforce the message that carotenoid-rich crops can not only be tasty but also provide more nutritional and economic value. The Island Food Community hopes that the public awareness campaigns will encourage the cultivation of some nutritious plant varieties, such as the Taiwang banana and green leafy vegetables, which until now have been relegated to the status of animal fodder.

Although the Island Food Community is still in its infancy, its work is already having a positive impact. By analyzing all available varieties to identify the carotenoid-rich cultivars of plants like banana and pandanus, the NGO is contributing to international efforts to describe both inter- and intra-specific

diversity in micronutrient content. In the future, we may find a healthier community in the Federated States of Micronesia, one empowered by a diverse diet of local foods and a growing sense of economic well-being, the cornerstone of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei’s mission.

The Island Food Community of Pohnpei receives support for this work from various sources, including Task Force Sight and Life, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the Pacific German Regional Forestry Programme, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By Nicholas Lilly, IPGRI

Island food community of Pohnpei promotes a healthier diet in the Pacific

For more information on the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, please visit www.islandfood.org.

The Island Food Community uses the Internet to promote

local foods

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Crab Swamp Taro Volcanoes won a prize in the recipe contest sponsored by the Island Food Community as part of its celebration of World Food Day.

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Wild relatives boost zinc levels in wheat

Dietary diversity provides the ultimate means to end the hidden hunger of micronutrient malnutrition. However, when staple foods are the most affordable option for the hungry, the hungry tend to eat a lot of them. In some regions of the developing world, where hidden hunger is raging, upwards of 70% of the diet of the poor consists of maize, rice, or wheat products—crops traditionally bred to be high yielding but not necessarily to be nutrient rich.

When researchers who are focused on increasing the quantity of staple crops pay attention to the quality of those crops as well, diversity often intensifies—not only in terms of expanding the

number of nutrient sources available to poor consumers, but also in terms of expanding the total genepool of modern varieties. A case in point is the development of biofortified wheat—that is, wheat that has been bred for nutrient density—from the cross of two wild wheat relatives. Once virtually ignored by science, wild varieties of wheat are proving to be a reservoir of traits for nutrient-dense, biofortified food that is high in minerals, particularly iron and zinc (see related story below).

In the mid-1990s, wheat breeders at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) brought high micronutrient levels from the

wild back into modern wheat varieties through a lengthy breeding process. The scientific practice of looking to the wild has now resulted in several lines that are not only high yielding, but also have zinc levels that are double that found in popular varieties.

Building on the achievements of the CIMMYT scientists, HarvestPlus is harnessing the power of plant breeding to develop staple food crops that are rich in micronutrients. HarvestPlus is a global alliance of research institutions and implementing agencies in developed and developing countries, coordinated by the International Center for

Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Initially, six crops—beans, cassava, maize, rice, sweet potato and wheat—and three nutrients—iron, zinc and vitamin A—are being studied.

Although a diversified diet is most likely to be a nutritious diet, it is not always an option for the poorest people. Improving

the nutrient content of staple foods will at least ensure they have access to the some of the nutrients they need. And when diets can diversify, biofortified crops still have a complementary role to play.

By Bonnie McClaffertyHarvestPlus

Zinc deficiency is implicated in health problems worldwide, including agonizing central nervous system defects in newborn babies. No firm estimates are available on the number of people who are zinc deficient, but over a billion are at risk, with the prevalence highest in parts of Asia and Africa. Zinc supplementation has been shown to reduce the effects of common

childhood infections by one-third, especially diarrhoea, pneumonia and possibly malaria.

As part of the work under HarvestPlus—the CGIAR’s global alliance working to breed and distribute crops for better nutrition—researchers and partners of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are developing nutritionally enhanced

wheat varieties to increase people’s intake of essential dietary elements like zinc. Given that CIMMYT-derived spring bread wheat varieties are planted on 80% of the global spring wheat area, the impacts could be significant.

Turkish wheat landraces and cultivars that use zinc efficiently are being combined with wheat varieties developed in the Turkey–CIMMYT–ICARDA

Biofortification for more nutritious crops

Dr Ismail Cakmak and colleagues found that wild relatives of wheat show high tolerance to zinc deficient soils.

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Improving the nutrient content of staple foods ensures that the poorest people have access to some of the nutrients they need.

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For more information visitwww.harvestplus.org

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Adding diversity to people’s diets using locally available foods offers a long-term solution to the problem of malnutrition in poor countries. Traditional leafy vegetables, for example, are some of the most nutritious foods around. However, in recent decades, there has been a shift towards more ‘exotic’ diets based on introduced vegetables. This shift has led to a loss of dietary diversity and of the traditional crop varieties themselves as people discard them in favour of introduced foods.

The Association for the Promotion and the Propagation of Plant Resources of Arid and Semi-arid Lands (PROPAGE), a French non-governmental organization, is leading a campaign to reverse this trend through an international network focused on promoting greater use of Moringa, a multi-purpose tree.

Moringa oleifera is a pan-tropical tree that originated in India but today grows throughout the inter-tropical zone. Moringa is used in traditional medicines and for the construction of living fences—cut-off branches of moringa planted in the ground quite literally grow into a fence. Moringa seed oil may be used both as a vegetable oil and as a cosmetic ingredient, while the seeds contain chemicals that are useful in water purification. Studies have shown that the leaves of the moringa are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and proteins. The leaves can help fight malnutrition and related diseases such as childhood blindness. Malnutrition programmes in Senegal and India have shown excellent results using dried moringa leaf powder. In Niger, where a deadly food crisis is affecting an estimated 3.6 million people, PROPAGE is exploring how to use the dried moringa leaf powder in programmes to fight malnutrition.

Members of the network, known as ‘Moringanews’, share information about this important tree and its uses over the Internet. The network also uses tools such as posters, baby formula enriched with moringa, and recipes to enhance the use of the tree around the world.

PROPAGE collaborates with local NGOs and institutions in projects aimed at promoting greater use of the tree. A major public awareness effort to promote the consumption of moringa leaves using cooking demonstrations, radio programmes, posters and video displays has shown encouraging results. Local populations have been very receptive because the tree is part of their environment and is already known for its medicinal properties. Training provided by PROPAGE has helped farmers to learn how to cultivate the moringa trees as a crop. In addition to growing trees for their own use, women have proven to be very interested in marketing the

leaves, particularly in the form of dry powder, which is added to food to improve its nutritional quality.

By Mélanie Broin, PROPAGE

Spreading the good word about moringa

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International Winter Wheat Improvement Program. The latter have resistance to yellow rust and root diseases, characteristics that are very important to Turkey’s farmers. “We’re evaluating about 5000 wild, primitive and modern wheat lines with these traits right now,” said Ismail Cakmak, Professor at Sabancı University in Istanbul and a CIMMYT Trustee. “Wild wheats are showing particularly high levels of zinc efficiency when grown in zinc-deficient soils.”

Cakmak and his colleagues also found that wild wheats and certain wild relatives of wheat tolerate zinc-deficient soils better than bread wheat. “Many of the wild wheats and wild relatives that exhibit very high tolerance to zinc-deficient soils originated in Turkey,” said Cakmak. “Very probably this is because Turkey has such zinc-deficient soils.” The researchers feel this valuable trait can easily be passed on to improve bread wheats.

With funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), CIMMYT evaluated accessions from its genebank for cultivars that produced zinc-rich grain and considerable variation was found. Cakmak and his team, together with collaborators from

the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ankara, Çukurova University, Adana, Tel Aviv University and Haifa University in Israel, have identified wild and primitive wheats from the Fertile Crescent whose grain has seven times as much zinc as modern wheat varieties. Preliminary results also suggest that the grain of wild species has higher levels of proteins and amino acids that make it easier for people to absorb micronutrients such as zinc.

“We have access in our collaborating institutes to nearly 10 000 unique accessions of wild and primitive wheats and wild relatives of wheat from the Fertile Crescent,” observed Cakmak. “Because Turkey has zinc deficiency in soils and plants, as well as in people, we’re ideally suited to screen a range of crops for the HarvestPlus programme.” The Turkish government has also turned greater attention to this problem and the Prime Ministry-State Planning Organization has provided US$1 million for a project to improve wheat cultivars with high zinc and iron concentration in the grain.

By Mike Listman, CIMMYT

PROPAGE is leading a campaign to encourage greater use of the nutritionally important moringa tree in Africa.

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Scientists are working to domesticate wild fruit trees in an attempt to head off one of Africa’s most serious public health problems. By many accounts it’s a race against time. Africa’s forests and woodlands, which for thousands of years provided safe haven for hundreds of species of native fruit trees, are under pressure not only from illegal cutting, but also from agriculture and the affects of global warming. If domesticated and planted on farms, scientists estimate the trees could save millions of lives.

“Africa’s fruit trees are one of the best tools we have for preventing diseases caused by the lack of vitamins in the diet,” said Dennis Garrity, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre. About 30 million African children suffer from lack of vitamin A—a micronutrient that the body uses to maintain the immune system—and more than 500 000 children die each year due to complications from related diseases. Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health problem in Africa, rivalling only HIV/AIDS and malaria.

According to Garrity, a young child needs only a small quantity of vitamin A to maintain the body’s basic defences. While almost all of the vitamin A that a child requires can be obtained from fruit, Africa’s indigenous fruit trees are disappearing at a rate faster than nature can replenish them. In Africa, people traditionally harvest fruit from the wild and rarely plant trees. The World Agroforestry Centre’s ‘Trees of Change’ programme is championing a shift away from harvesting in the wild, coupled with a massive effort to plant fruit trees on farms.

‘Trees of Change’ is creating portfolios of domesticated African species that will mature quickly and produce

fruit during specific times of the year. As the harvest of one tree is completed, another is ready for picking. Domestication efforts have focused on finding the most productive varieties with high nutritive value, good market potential, superior taste and early maturity. African fruit trees established from seed can take more than ten years to produce fruit, while many domesticated varieties produced through advanced horticultural techniques can do the same job in less than 24 months. “There are already a great many improved varieties that can be put into production now and many more that are being developed,” said Festus Akinnifesi, a ‘Trees of Change’ scientist working in southern Africa. “Our objective is to create diversified portfolios of trees for each of Africa’s principal hunger hot spots.” Akinnifesi is particularly keen about trees such as the Maula plum, which produces an oil-rich, edible nut that is high in amino acids. Many experts consider it to be one of Africa best tropical fruits, a sentiment shared by consumers.

Other trees in the portfolio

• Wild loquat produces a potato-like fruit with a sweet creamy taste

and excellent earning potential.

• Wild mango produces fruit with a slightly bitter but unique taste and aroma. Its seed is traded regionally as a condiment.

• Baobab produces an extremely nutritious fruit once used in the production of tartar sauce. The largest known baobab tree has a diameter that exceeds 30 feet, while domesticated varieties can be grown as a small vegetable crop in home gardens.

• Amarula, a member of the mango family, produces four times more vitamin C than an average orange and is valued for its fragrance and taste.

• Ximenia americana yields a large cherry-like fruit that can be eaten fresh or processed into juices and jellies.

By Ed Sulzberger

Special SectionScientists predict African fruit trees could help solve major public health problem

The baobab produces an extremely nutritious fruit.

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For more information visitwww.worldagroforestrycentre.orgEmail: information@treesofchange.org

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In Nepal, traditional home gardens represent a largely unrecognized source of nutritional plant diversity. Their small size and non-commercial nature differentiate them from other types of land use. These features have also resulted in their tendency to be neglected by research programmes. Recently, however, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported a Nepal-based non-governmental organization, Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD) and IPGRI in a study of the importance of home gardens in Nepal.

According to a baseline survey conducted by the partners, 72% of the sample households—spread over four separate ecological and socio-

cultural locations—have home gardens. Up to 48% of the species found in the gardens are used as vegetables. Broad leaf mustard, chayote, taro, sponge gourds, radishes, binyee (a type of semi-wild eggplant), akabare (an extremely hot variety of chilli), lafa (a leafy vegetable), ool (elephant foot yam) are some of the vegetables associated with local food culture. In Nepal, home gardens are also rich in fodder and multi-purpose tree species. Young shoots, leaves, flowers, buds and other parts of trees such as Ficus spp contribute nutritional and medicinal value to local cuisine.

In culturally diverse Nepal, different plants satisfy a variety of ethnic and culinary preferences and ritual needs. If several families, representing an eclectic

mix of ethnic and religious traditions, maintain home gardens, even a relatively small geographical area can hold significant plant diversity. The composition of home gardens also varies by environment, with mostly medicinal plants and fodder trees grown in the hills and mountains and fruits and vegetables predominating on the plains.

In Nepal, home gardens play an important role in fulfilling dietary and nutritional needs. Although they cover only 2–11% of the land holdings of Nepalese families, home gardens can supply up to 60% of their fruit and vegetable requirements. Because traditional vegetables are often adapted to low chemical input agriculture, they have the added benefit of being free from chemicals and pesticides.

The LI-BIRD-IPGRI project revealed the potential benefit of a tool to map out the levels of crop diversity, nutrients and micronutrients in a given home garden on a monthly basis. Nepalese home gardens are seasonally dynamic, with farmers growing a variety of crops with different harvest times to ensure a constant supply of food. The tool—a sort of nutrition calendar—would help to identify species to suit seasonal and local conditions. For example, the nutrient supply in the Jhapa area of east Nepal is very poor during the monsoon months of June to September. A nutrition calendar might indicate that the introduction of aquatic

vegetables and perennial climbers in combination with small animals and fish could contribute to balanced nutrition for families in Jhapa. Comparing nutrition calendars prepared in various communities would help identify opportunities to blend current agricultural practices and cultural preferences with good practices from similar conditions elsewhere and thereby to take better advantage of the potential of home gardens to improve people’s lives.

By Bhuwon Sthapit, IPGRI, and Resham Gautum,

LI-BIRD

Home gardens for a healthy future in Nepal

An old woman poses with her grandchild in front of their home garden, Nepal. Home gardens play a critical role in fulfilling a

family’s nutritional and dietary needs.

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The Chepang, also known as the Praja, are regarded as the most marginalized ethnic group in Nepal. For generations, they have lived in small, isolated settlements at elevations from 460 to 1220 metres along the slopes of the Mahabharat range and the hilly areas of central and western Nepal. In total, their population numbers 55 000 households.

The livelihood system of Chepang communities depends heavily on traditions and values that are rooted in nature. The diversity of the agroecological system they inhabit provides the basis for a diverse diet and is the source of a wide range of nutritional foods. Wild foods, including root crops, herbs and fruits, are collected from the Chepang’s own land or from the nearby forest. Wild foods make up 40% of the Chepang’s diet. They also play a major role in the

survival strategies of Chepang communities, especially during food shortages. During the food deficit months, the majority of households depend on wild and uncultivated food crops to meet their food requirements.

According to farmers, the wild foods are very nutritious and provide a lot of energy. Research conducted by various institutions backs up their claim. A study carried out by Hokoido University, Japan, for example, showed that the root crops githa and ghyakur, eaten by the Chepang, contain five times more protein and fibre than potato and sweet potato. The study further showed that important elements like iron, calcium and phosphorus are also available in the wild foods.

By BR Regmi, KP Aryal and BB Tamang, LI-BIRD

Wild and uncultivated foods: a healthful alternative

For more information visitwww.libird.org

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In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 3 million children under the age of five suffer from blindness as a result of vitamin A deficiency. This deficiency is also one of the leading causes of early childhood death and a major risk factor for pregnant women in Africa. One of the easiest ways to introduce more vitamin A into the diet is to eat orange-fleshed sweet potato. This type of sweet potato is rich in beta-carotene, which the body converts easily into vitamin A. It is also easy to grow and affordable by the average consumer.

Adding 100 grams of the sweet potato to the daily diet can prevent vitamin A deficiency in children and dramatically reduce maternal mortality. An ex ante impact

assessment by economists from CIP and Michigan State University indicated that introducing the new high beta-carotene cultivars could benefit 50 million African children under the age of six.

Pioneered and led by the International Potato Center (CIP), the Vitamin A Partnership for Africa (VITAA) is promoting the increased production and use of orange-fleshed sweet potato. The partnership includes more than 70 agencies from the health, nutrition and agricultural sectors, working together in ten partner countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Sweet potato is a women’s crop grown mainly for family use and to supplement household income,” said VITAA Project Coordinator Regina Kapinga, a Tanzanian agronomist based at CIP’s field office in Kampala, Uganda. “VITAA offers a common-sense solution to a major public health problem.”

CIP has developed about 40 new starchy orange-fleshed sweet potato varieties with resistance to viruses. These varieties have been accepted by farmers and consumers in Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. To encourage adoption, VITAA has developed a clever social

marketing strategy and action plan. Mothers and school-age children are targeted with simple messages—such as “Feed orange-fleshed sweet potato: contains vitamin A for your child’s health”—that create demand for the new varieties and associated food products. Awareness campaigns and nutrition education are creating a demand for planting materials and information.

Joweria Sekiyanja, a Ugandan mother of eight, is a VITAA success story. “It’s not often that a lifesaver turns out to be a money-spinner for people in communities where it’s saving lives,” she said. Joweria is educating her children and banking money. “I make juices, doughnuts, cakes and chips from the VITAA sweet potatoes that I sell from my kiosk. People like them very much. In Uganda, a single farmer can earn up to US$400 per month,” added Joweria.

VITAA has received support from the Queen of Buganda Kingdom, Her Majesty Sylvia Naginda Nabagereka. She launched a campaign to promote orange-fleshed sweet potato in Uganda’s fight against vitamin A deficiency. The Queen, known locally as the Nabagereka, has appealed to all Ugandans to grow and

eat orange-fleshed sweet potato to fight malnutrition and poverty. The Nabagereka is held in high esteem by her subjects and plays a pivotal role in mobilizing development efforts in the Buganda Kingdom. Community members have taken her recommendations seriously, recognizing that, along with bigger profits and better health, the orange sweet potato varieties can bring other benefits to the village. In the words of a village leader, “It has earned us prestige.”

A workshop for parliamentarians further raised government interest. Workshop participants targeted five pilot constituencies to receive planting material donated by VITAA. “Many MPs, especially women, got interested in my work and later contacted me to train women’s groups in their areas,” said Joweria.

The workshop participants are dedicated to promoting food security. “The interesting angle is the keen commitment by the members of parliament who have ferried vines to their constituents with their own resources,” said Joweria. Recently the president of Uganda has become involved, praising the initiative in a public address

Combating vitamin A deficiency with orange-fleshed sweet potato

VITAA has developed a strategy for marketing sweet potatoes that are high in vitamin A.C

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One of the easiest ways to introduce more vitamin A into the diet is to eat orange-fleshed sweet potato.

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21Special Section

So-called neglected species are showing great promise in efforts to fight hunger and malnutrition.

In Africa, for example, the tuber commonly known as the ‘Livingstone potato’ is being studied for its exceptional nutritional properties. Grown throughout Africa, the Livingstone potato (Plectranthus esculentus) is a perennial shrub that produces tubers at the base of its stem. “This species is highly valuable from a nutritional point of view,”

said James Allemann of the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences at the University of the Free State in South Africa, who has worked on the crop. “Not only does it provide a valuable source of carbohydrates and energy, but it also provides a significant source of protein, vitamin A, calcium and iron as well as a number of other useful compounds.”

Scientific analysis has shown that the protein content of the Livingstone potato is significantly higher than that of better known tuber crops, such as cassava and sweet potato. In addition, the protein found in the Livingstone potato contains seven of the eight essential amino acids that the human body needs to function healthily. The crop has a higher mineral content than potato, cassava, taro or sweet potato. A serving of 100 grams of Livingstone potato can provide up to 15% of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of calcium and more than 100% of the RDA of iron. That’s an important consideration for the 2 billion people around the world—206 million of them in Africa—who suffer from iron deficiency. And the Livingstone potato is richer in vitamin A (which

it stores as beta-carotene) than any other tuber—with the exception of the orange fleshed sweet potato. Vitamin A deficiency is a major cause of disease among children and young mothers. The tubers can be stewed, baked or eaten raw.

But despite its potential for superstar status, as has been the fate of many other traditional African crops, the Livingstone potato is snubbed by local communities who prefer to grow more modern, exotic crops that are often less nutritious and less suited to their climate and soils. Attempts to reintroduce the crop into some farming communities have met with a degree of success but the Livingstone potato is not out of danger yet.

“Our studies of the nutritional value of this crop show that it has great

potential for improving the food security and nutrition of communities across Africa,” Allemann said. “It is vital that we raise awareness of its value so that people continue to use and conserve the Livingstone potato.”

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

Nutritious tubers: the Livingstone potato

For further information visit www.cipotato.org/vitaa or contact the VITAA coordinator Regina Kapinga at r.kapinga@cgiar.org

The Livingstone potato is richer in vitamin A than any other tuber.

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In Africa, the Livingstone potato is being studied for its exceptional nutritious properties. A farmer and an extension worker examine a Livingstone potato plant.

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and promising a factory to expand sweet potato processing.

The scheme offers a model for a food-based initiative to eradicate vitamin deficiency. “The introduction of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes has already had a significant impact in target areas of Uganda,” said David Yanggen, an agricultural economist at CIP. “VITAA has the capacity to help massive numbers of people.”

The project is being extended outside Africa, initially to China, where an estimated 40 000 children a year lose their sight from vitamin A deficiency.

The initial VITAA activities were supported by contributions from CIDA, CIP and its donors, DFID, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Senior Family Fund, The Micronutrient Initiative, USAID-Africa Bureau and MOST, PRAPACE and SARRNET.

By Paul Stapleton, CIP

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In recent years, consumers in sub-Saharan Africa have discovered a newfound appreciation for traditional leafy vegetables, in large part because of the unique nutrients and micronutrients they contain. In western Kenya, thanks to the efforts of the Rural Outreach Program (ROP), a healthier diet is not the only benefit of the growing popularity of leafy vegetables. It has also resulted in better livelihoods and increased power for women in the region.

Sub-Saharan Africa contains an enormous variety of edible leafy vegetables, estimated to represent between 800–1000 species. Yet surveys show that only a tiny percentage of leafy

vegetables are consumed today; estimates run as low as 10%. At the same time, the consumption of starchy and oily foods both by rural farmers and urban dwellers is on the rise, with an increase in nutrition-related conditions such as diabetes, obesity and coronary diseases as the dangerous consequence.

ROP, a non-governmental organization established and led by women, is determined to fight the escalating levels of malnutrition in the sugar-cane growing areas of western Kenya. Inspired by the success of similar efforts in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ROP mobilized women to grow leafy vegetables on the small parcels of land not used for sugar-cane production.

Cooking fairs and workshops are helping to promote the consumption of traditional vegetables such as cowpea leaves, jute mallow, spider plant, black nightshade, amaranths, pumpkin leaves, Ethiopian kales and African vine spinach. ROP is raising awareness among members of parliament by targeting their stomachs: meals of leafy vegetables have been served at the cafeteria of the Kenya National Assembly.

While the advent of male-dominated sugar-cane farming in the mid 1970s brought economic advantages to the region, it had distinct drawbacks for women who saw their land gobbled up by sugar-cane. They were left with

small parcels of land where they planted mostly maize and beans for subsistence. The popularity of leafy vegetables has opened up significant markets to the increasing number of women who choose to grow them, boosting their incomes as well as bringing health benefits to their consumers.

ROP has established a village genebank to

conserve the valuable seeds of leafy vegetables and to provide a source of seed for farmers and the rising number of urban and peri-urban growers.

By MK Shiundu, SO Oiye and MA Aswani

Rural Outreach Program

Traditional vegetables: healthy and empowering

Mrs Champa Chaudhary is typical of women from the Tharu community in western Nepal. Tharu women have little access to resources and practically no say in household decisions, despite their responsibility for cooking and other household tasks. Until recently, the Chaudhary family, which includes three children, was completely dependent on the small wages Mrs Chaudhary’s husband brought home from jobs constructing roads or working in the fields. The family owns a tiny piece of land where they grow vegetables such as gourds, beans, chillies and chayote. The crop yields, however, were never sufficient to support the family for more than 4 months at a time. During the rest of the year, Mrs Chaudhary bought cheap vegetables from a nearby market.

When a Nepal-based NGO—Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD)—and IPGRI partnered with a number of communities to promote the use of home gardens, Mrs Chaudhary was chosen to participate as a research farmer. The project taught her a number of skills, including how to manage a nursery and how to deal with pests and diseases

in her home garden. As a result, she now grows vegetables in her home garden all year round. “Thanks to the home garden project, I do not have to spend my husband’s hard-earned money to buy expensive vegetables from the market,” said Mrs Chaudhary.

Besides diversifying her home garden and the diet of her family as a result of her new skills, Mrs Chaudhary also sells the surplus products at the market. “I earned Rs 5000 (US$75) last year from selling vegetables in the market and I have already made Rs 4000 (US$60) this year,” she said proudly. “I am very happy to be able to help support my family. People in the community have also started listening to my advice on how to grow vegetables.”

Mrs Chaudhary’s tale is instructive: through simple training in home gardening techniques, many people might improve their nutrition and health, their economic situation and their lives generally.

By Resham Gautam, LI-BIRD, and Bhuwon Sthapit, IPGRI

ROP is fighting malnutrition by mobilizing women in Kenya to grow and eat nutritious leafy vegetables.

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For more information contact the Rural Outreach Program at oniango@iconnect.co.ke

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Rocket renaissance: an Italian favourite goes global

At one time a forbidden aphrodisiac, at another a wild weed harvested from ancient Roman ruins, the plant known as rocket has had a long and chequered career. Today, as a result of international research and agricultural efforts, rocket has finally gotten the respects it deserves from scientists, and from consumers the world over who appreciate the vegetable for its taste and nutritional value. In short, rocket—a charismatic if historically neglected crop—has gone global.

In Italy and around the Mediterranean, rocket has been consumed for millennia despite a slightly dubious reputation. Virgil mentions it in his writings, citing in particular its ability to arouse amorous inclinations. It is this quality that later led to a ban on rocket in

monastic gardens. Pliny also describes rocket in his works, although the connotations are less racy: he focuses on the medicinal uses of the plant, especially in treating eye problems. Biblical passages also assert rocket’s medicinal value.

In spite of this long history of use, it was not until the 1990s that rocket transitioned from a somewhat folkloric vegetable harvested from the wild to a readily available consumer crop. At this time, countries including Italy, India, Egypt, Turkey and Israel decided to work together to gather a diverse array of wild rocket varieties and select desirable strains for domestication. The choices were many: ‘rocket’ does not actually refer to a single vegetable, but instead to an assortment of plant species and genera.

As a consequence, the appearances and uses of modern domesticated rocket varieties are as diverse as the wild species from which they are drawn. In Egypt, farmers have selected rocket strains to produce a large-leafed, fairly bland vegetable for food. In India, rocket varieties have been selected for their oil, used in lamps, as well as for their pesticide qualities. Rocket in Israel is used for medicinal purposes. In other parts of the world, rocket is strictly animal fodder.

It is in Italy, however—a historic bastion of rocket diversity—that this aphrodisiac of antiquity has been reborn in its most globally recognizable form. Here, rocket is used as a spice or green in salads and has been selected for its strong flavour, alternatively described as ‘spicy,’ ‘peppery’ or ‘nutty’. Before the 1990s revival, wild harvesting had made Italian rocket scarce. However, improved agricultural and marketing techniques—including mechanized hydroponic cultivation and bagging of harvested crops for increased shelf life—have allowed for the export of a clean, ready-to-eat product throughout the world. In the Veneto region of northern Italy, rocket production is booming. What was once

a scrubby weed collected from the ruins of Pompeii in southern Italy is now a gourmet salad ingredient used across Europe and the Americas. Rocket most definitely can no longer be considered a neglected crop.

Nor has rocket remained unknown to science. Studies have shown that this traditional vegetable is high in vital micronutrients, including iron, calcium, fibre and a host of vitamins. Young leaves and rocket sprouts have also been found to contain high levels of glucosinolates—chemicals that contribute to antioxidant activities, keeping the body’s cells free of toxins and protecting them against the damaging effects of oxidative stress. Eating rocket therefore not only provides human bodies with required micronutrients, but also keeps the cells young and disease-free.

From its beginnings as a rumoured sexual stimulant to its modern incarnation as a multipurpose crop used the world over, rocket has undergone a botanic renaissance. In so doing, it demonstrates how a neglected crop rich both in nutrients and history might be driven to new levels of beneficial use.

By Nicholas Lilly, IPGRI

Special Section

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Its name may stem from the latin word, roc, meaning ‘harsh’ or

‘rough’, but rocket is considered a delicacy in many parts of

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Forest-to-town, sago-to-rice: the changing diets of Borneo’s hunter-gatherers

24Special Section

The metamorphosis of human society from nomadic groups to productive agricultural and urban civilizations may sacrifice human health for civil progress. A number of studies suggest nomadic foraging was a relatively salutary form of subsistence for humans. Past foragers were healthy, with a good diet and physical exercise. With no crowded urban centres or livestock and limited technology, pollution was not a problem, cancers less prevalent and exposure to malaria and infectious diseases limited. But now, as cash-driven urban economies intrude further on pristine wilderness, the few remaining hunter-gatherer communities grow less isolated and are

confronted by a range of cultural, economic and political challenges.

One useful method of measuring the costs that hunter-gatherers must pay to join the modern world is to examine what they eat. Scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the French Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) recently studied the diets and eating habits of the Punan people of East Kalimantan in Indonesia.

The Punan depend highly on forests for their livelihoods. Nearly 4500 Punan live in the East Kalimantan district of Malinau, an area

that hosts one of the last undisturbed frontiers of lowland forest in Borneo.

In the 1970s, the Indonesian government invited several remote Punan groups to move downstream to the then distant and tiny village of Malinau. The government intended this move to provide the forest Punan with modern-day benefits such as medical facilities and formal education.

Thirty years later, having swapped blow pipes and spears for hoes and spades, they find themselves growing crops on the outskirts of what is now a bustling town. Their livelihoods consist of selling vegetables, occasional jobs and fees paid by timber and charcoal concessionaires. Today, they can take advantage of all the modern amenities of city life.

The Punan who declined the government’s invitation to relocate are scattered in small and remote hamlets, two or three days away from the town by motorized canoe. Although no longer nomads—they base their lives in isolated forest villages—these Punan still seasonally venture deep into the forest to forage for fruits, nuts, berries, bush meat and materials for making cultural artifacts.

The presence of both urban and forest-dependent Punan

allowed the CIFOR and IRD scientists to compare two communities with the same origin, language and culture. Completed in July 2004, the study included a survey of more than 1200 dishes eaten by one or another of the two communities.

The forest Punan were actually healthier than their urban brethren. Although more exposed to fluctuations in the availability of forest resources, their diet was more diversified than that of the town Punan.

During nomadic times, the Punans’ major source of carbohydrates was sago starch harvested from palm trees. Forest Punan still eat sago, especially during their seasonal migrations into the forest, as well as cassava and arrow-root tubers. By contrast, sago has disappeared completely from the dinner plate of the town Punan, replaced by rice in 95% of their meals.

Just as the staples in the diets of the forest-dependent Punan are more diverse, so is their protein. Bush-meat and freshwater fish are much more accessible upriver. Downstream in Malinau—depending on the season—the diet of the Punan is often vegetarian as fish and meat are prohibitively expensive.

Attitudes towards food also differ between the two

locations. The custom of sharing bush meat is still strong in the forest but declines with proximity to Malinau.

“If you want to eat meat, you have to pay for it,” was a recurring lament heard by scientists surveying city households. The scientists also observed that the closer the Punan live to Malinau, the greater the consumption of snack foods. Vitamin-rich fruits are rejected in favour of salty and fatty snacks, cakes and ice creams.

The forest Punan have better nutritional indicators—such as a higher body mass index and less body fat—than Punan in town, among whom a few cases of obesity were reported.

The Punan still living in the forests serve as a reminder of how humans lived when their lifestyles and the availability of diverse forest resources were more evenly balanced. The cumulative experience of foraging societies offers a useful benchmark for present-day efforts to promote healthier lifestyles and reduce disease, even in the world’s industrialized countries.

By Edmond Dounias, Audrey Selzner, Iwan Kurniawan and

Patrice Levang, CIFOR

Sago starch harvested from palm trees is still the main source of carbohydrate for the Punan living in the remote forest village of Rian Tibu. But it has completely disappeared from the plates of the Punan living in town, who now eat rice instead.

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For more information visit www.cifor.cgiar.org

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Mayan communities conserve and use nutritious crops

25Special Section

As part of an IPGRI project to strengthen the scientific basis of on-farm conservation, farmers and scientists are working together in Yucatan, Mexico to evaluate local maize and chilli pepper varieties. They hope to learn

why Mayan communities maintain particular varieties as well as how these varieties contribute to peoples’ diets. The researchers have compiled information on how maize and chilli pepper varieties are used in food preparation. Maize and chilli varieties have also been tested in laboratories to determine their nutritional content.

Both maize and chilli peppers have been part of the Mayan diet and culture since pre-

Hispanic times. According to the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas, human beings were fashioned from maize after the gods failed in their attempts with other materials. For the Mayan people, maize is a gift from the gods, as precious as jade. Ancient Mayas believed that growing maize was a sacred duty. Chillies, on the other hand, were attributed with healing and mystic properties. They have been used in hunting rituals, as anti-inflammatory drugs, as a cure for cramps and as a guard against the evil eye.

However, it is as food that these Mayan crops have received their most lasting appreciation. Mayan cuisine is rich and diverse. In the past, chilli peppers were used in practically every meal, from pozole served at breakfast—a mixture of maize cereal dressed with chillies—to dinner, which generally featured various species of chilli peppers. While changes in eating habits and a move away from traditional dishes has led people to reduce the amounts (and pungency) of chilli peppers in their diets, they remain a fairly prominent feature of Mayan cuisine.

Besides traditional tortillas, Mayan cooking features more than four hundred different preparations for maize. Together with beans, pumpkin and chillies, maize makes a balanced diet, rich

in carbohydrates, with some protein, iron, vitamins and minerals. Mayan farmers also complement maize with animal protein and fruits and vegetables from their fields and home gardens.

In interviews with Yaxcaba farmers, researchers determined which modern maize and chilli pepper varieties are used for celebrations, including in dishes prepared for altars at the annual festival for the dead (hanal pixan in the Mayan language), for a ritual to request rain (ch’a’ cháak), during Holy Week and at family parties. Survey results reinforced the great variety of Mayan cuisine and revealed the specific physical and sensory properties valued in these crops. These include pungency in chilli pepper varieties and the texture and yield of the maize dough used for tortillas and tamales. These findings demonstrate that plant varieties are not always maintained for their productivity: sometimes quality trumps quantity.

Preferred maize and chilli pepper varieties were tested to determine their overall (fats, carbohydrates and proteins) and specific (amino acids in maize and vitamin C and capsaicinoids in the chilli pepper) nutritional content. ‘Habanero’, ‘Sukurre’, ‘Peak Pigeon’ and ‘Ya’ax iik’ chillies exhibited greater amounts

of dihydrocapsaicin, which adds flavor and aroma to dishes and sauces. Vitamin C content varied among samples between 105 and 206 mg/100 g, indicating that preferred varieties may provide a person’s daily vitamin C requirement (50–60 mg/day).

In the case of maize, the preferred local varieties were compared with a group of modern varieties and advanced lines from formal breeding programmes. Results showed that farmer varieties have the same or greater tryptophan content than improved varieties. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that the human body must obtain from food; it is usually found in animal protein.

Interestingly, the study revealed that although farmers expressed their preferences relative to dish flavour or dough texture, the preferred varieties showed favourable nutritional characteristics. While farmers participating in the study did not mention nutrition as a reason for their preferences, they were pleased to know that their preferred varieties are nutritious and expressed pride at the contribution Mayan communities can make to the Mexican cornucopia of traditional foods.

By Margarita Baena, IPGRI

Besides tortillas, Mayan cooking features over 400 different preparations for maize.

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For further information contact José Luis Chávez-Servia, IPGRIj.l.chavez@cgiar.orgEsmeralda Cázares-Sánchez, El Colegio de Postgraduados de México esmecaza@yahoo.com.mx or Devra I. Jarvis, IPGRId.jarvis@cgiar.org

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Armed conflict the leading cause of world hunger

Armed conflict is now the leading cause of hunger according to recent findings by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

“Conflict destroys lives, opportunities and environments and may be one of the most significant obstacles to sustainable development,” warned the report.

The report was launched at the 31st session of the Committee on World Food Security held in May, 2005. Participants met to review progress made towards meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in hunger by the year 2015.

An overwhelming majority of wars occur in poverty-stricken countries, where agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. During times of war or civil strife, people are often forced to flee their homes, leaving behind their main means of livelihood and the natural resources on which they depend. Food stores may be looted or burned and livestock slaughtered. Massive displacement can lead to poor hygiene and consequently to an increase in disease. HIV/AIDS can spread as lack of order

increases incidences of rape and commercial sex. In the past decade, wars have killed millions of people, most of them non-combatants, 90% of them women and children.

In recent years, food emergencies caused by conflict and other human-made disasters have increased. “More than a third of food emergencies between 1992 and 2003 were due to conflict and economic problems, compared with around 15% from 1986 to 1991,” said the FAO report. If this trend continues, the goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half by 2015 will be impossible to realize.

Climate change and HIV/AIDS also pose significant

threats to food security. Natural and human-made disasters reinforce each other, developing into so-called ‘complex emergencies’ and protracted crises. The report stressed that all countries are likely to be affected by climate change eventually and called for special attention in coping with ‘key shocks’ to food security brought about by conflicts, natural disasters and HIV/AIDS.

The report concluded that “peace is a public good” and “an essential condition for attaining the Millennium Development Goals.”

Crop diversity can help improve production to meet the needs of a growing population in the face of

environmental changes and natural or human-induced disasters. Crop diversity also increases the resilience of production systems. Research has shown that agricultural production systems that are rich in diversity are better able to withstand shocks brought about by natural or human induced disasters, helping production to return to normal levels quickly.

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

Rwandan women carry bags of bean seed through a war-damaged grove of banana trees.

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Impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture continues to grow

In 2004, nearly 5 million people became infected with the HIV virus according to figures released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This brings the worldwide total to 39.4 million. In 2004 alone, the disease claimed the lives of 3.1 million people. As if these figures weren’t alarming enough, researchers predict that the worst of the impact is still to come. Few countries have taken the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and data suggests that within the next ten years or so, the largest number of infections may be in India or China.

At present the problem is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa. Although it is home to just 10% of the world’s population, this part of the continent has more than 70% of the world’s AIDS cases. FAO estimates that by 2020, HIV/AIDS will have claimed the lives of 20% of the agricultural workers in

southern Africa. The impact of this on the food security, nutrition and income of people living in southern Africa will be enormous.

AIDS used to be a disease of African cities, relegated to urban areas. In recent years however, AIDS has increasingly become a problem in rural areas, afflicting the continent’s poorest people. When they fall ill, migrant workers and urban dwellers return from the cities to be looked after in their home villages, starting a spiral of decline. As family members care for their infected relatives, they have less time to spend working in the fields. This leads to poor crop yields, which in turn means less food, less income and poorer nutrition. And malnourished people are more susceptible to disease in general, including HIV/AIDS. A recent study by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, for example, showed a link between

vitamin A deficiency and transmission of the AIDS virus from mother to infant.

HIV/AIDS typically strikes during a person’s most productive years, between the ages of 15 and 49, leaving either the very young or the elderly to manage the farms. But very young farmers lack the necessary knowledge to manage the fields, knowledge that under normal circumstances would have been handed down to them by their parents. And the elderly often simply do not have the physical energy to cope.

Up to 80% of the population in sub–Saharan Africa depends on small scale agriculture for their food and livelihoods. FAO reports that, in the 25 hardest hit countries, AIDS has killed 7 million agricultural workers since 1985 and it could kill 16 million more before 2020. The most affected African countries could lose up to 26% of their agricultural

labour force within the next two decades. Surprisingly, despite the huge impact of the AIDS epidemic on the agricultural sector, most of the responses to the epidemic have come from the health sector.

AIDS also has an impact on agricultural biodiversity. Firstly, lack of labour means that families cannot grow a wide a range of crops on their farms. In addition, the intricate knowledge systems that are vital for the use and conservation of agricultural biodiversity on farmers’ fields are lost as entire generations are wiped out by the disease. Orphaned children are left without the traditional knowledge they need to make use of many of the plants growing in their fields, depriving them of food and a major part of their cultural identity.

Research into the links between agricultural biodiversity and nutrition and their role in the HIV/AIDS pandemic is only just beginning. But many scientists already recognize the important role that agricultural biodiversity can play in helping to mitigate the impact of this terrible disease on agriculture, nutrition and livelihoods.

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

For more information visit the UNAIDS website at www.unaids.org

Children orphaned by AIDS prepare a meal of matoke, a local dish made with bananas. AIDS has a huge impact on local knowledge systems. Without parents to teach them about their main means of livelihood, farming, many orphans are left struggling to make ends meet.

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AIDS facts:

• By 2020, the epidemic will have claimed the lives of one-fifth or more of all those working in agriculture in southern African countries

• Over two thirds of the population of the 25 countries most affected by AIDS live in rural areas

• AIDS mostly devastates the productive age group—people between 15 and 49 years

• HIV infection rates are three to five times higher in young women than in young men

Source: FAO

Geneflow News

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A scrubby wild plant could hold the key to agricultural improvements of enormous value to struggling farmers and the nutrient-deprived poor. The wild relatives of crops, which include crop ancestors as well as other species more or less closely related to them, have been an important part of crop improvement programmes for over 60 years. Genes from wild relatives have provided crops with resistance to pests and diseases, enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses and have made possible the production of hybrid varieties and improved quality traits such as protein content. Some successful examples of the use of wild relatives in crop improvement include the introduction of resistance

to potato late blight (the disease that caused the Irish famine of the 1800s); the production of rice hybrids, currently planted on 45% of China’s rice-growing area; and increased soluble solid content in tomatoes, a trait worth US$240 million per year.

A recent study of the presence of genes from crop wild relatives in released varieties of 16 mandate crops of the Future Harvest Centres highlights the successful use of wild relatives in breeding programmes. While breeding efforts continue to emphasize the use of pest and disease resistance genes, a wider range of characteristics are being introduced from wild

relatives than in the past, such as drought tolerance, ability to cope with high or low temperatures, enhanced yield and quality traits such as higher levels of iron. Nevertheless, crop wild relatives are still underexploited. Recent advances in molecular technologies and improved interspecies crossing

procedures have overcome many genetic and agronomic barriers to using wild relatives in breeding programmes. It is hoped that this development will foster greater recognition of the importance and value of using wild relatives in crop improvement.

By Reem Hajjar, IPGRI

Combating cassava diseases in Africa Tropical Manioc Selection (TMS) cassava varieties were developed using crosses with a wild relative of the crop and have been adopted by a number of African countries to combat cassava mosaic disease and bacterial blight. Currently, TMS varieties are planted on over 2 million hectares and continue to gain in popularity.

Drought and high/low temperature tolerant chickpeas The first chickpea variety with genes

introduced from a wild relative was released in 2004. Developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and already a leading variety in northern India, drought and temperature tolerance in the new variety are derived from the wild relative.

High-yielding millet hybrids Lines derived from a wild relative were used in the first pearl millet grain hybrids and commercial forage hybrids. The Tifleaf series derived from these lines are the most popular varieties in North America, with increasing importance in South America.

Increased protein content in Brazilian cassava A wild relative was used to double the protein content of a cassava variety popular in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The line has been exported to Ghana and Mozambique.

Wild relatives of crops such as the brassicas have great potential to assist in crop improvement.

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Wild relatives for better crop performance

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Unlocking the genetic vault

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) conserves more than 100 000 strains and varieties of rice (each is referred to as an ‘accession’). Many of these comprise a mixture of different genotypes. Each rice genotype—the genetic makeup that defines each type of rice—has an estimated 50 000 genes. Each gene comes in an unknown number of different versions, known as alleles, and each allele may change the way the rice looks or grows or tastes. Consider the incalculable number of different possible combinations of all the different versions and you begin to comprehend the diversity of rice.

Rice agriculture depends on this diversity. If a new rice disease appears, researchers can search the genebank for resistant varieties. The alleles required to make rice more tolerant of drought, for example, exist within the varieties contained in the collection. The genebank contains the genetic diversity we need to respond to changes in climate, consumer expectations, agricultural technologies and government priorities.

The full value of a genebank collection is realized through plant breeding—combining the best alleles from different genes in different accessions to create superior new combinations of the traits

needed by farmers and consumers. In this way, researchers can breed nutritious, high-quality, high-yielding rice varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases and tolerate stresses such as drought, flooding, low or high temperatures and poor soils.

This seems simple enough in principle but it raises some questions. How can we identify the best combinations of alleles? When a new disease appears, how can we know which alleles offer resistance to that disease? And once we know which alleles offer resistance, how can we find which of the genebank’s accessions contains them? The challenge is formidable. We have yet to discover the function of most rice genes, or which alleles are possible for most of the genes.

Discovering the important genes involves an intensive series of genetic analyses of a small, carefully-selected set of genotypes. This area of functional genomics, or gene discovery, allows us to decide which parts of the genome determine agronomic traits of interest. The answer depends on which traits we are interested in—grain quality, nutritional value, disease resistance, tolerance of poor soils and so on. The output of this research is a set of ‘candidate genes’— genes that we believe may have a certain functional significance.

Having chosen the candidate genes for exploration, we can start the serious business of allele mining—discovering new alleles at the selected genes. This means working through the collection to find all the alleles of these selected genes. We begin by choosing a subset of highly distinctive accessions. This subset is known as a ‘core collection.’

To choose the best core collection, researchers collect a wide range of evidence on diversity, then sample accessions representative of this diversity. One easy generic factor is geographic origin. Traditional varieties from different parts of the world have had an independent history of domestication for thousands of years,

and are therefore likely to show differences across the whole genome. This way, researchers can discover at least the majority of new alleles in a relatively small number of accessions.

However, even a good core collection won’t allow us to discover all possible alleles. Breeders need to screen large numbers of plants in order to find the rare valuable genotypes. The same applies to allele mining—if a valuable allele is present in only one of the 100 000-plus accessions in IRRI's genebank, we will miss it from a core collection. Ultimately, we may have to screen the whole collection. With allele-mining technologies rapidly becoming cheaper and faster, this will soon be within our grasp.

Simply discovering the new alleles is not the end of the story. Each time we discover a new allele at a candidate gene, we have to determine its agronomic significance. Here we go back to a new round of functional genomics research to assess the value of the allele.

By discovering the full diversity of available alleles and their agronomic significance, we can finally look forward to genebanks achieving their full potential—a contribution to sustainable development by enabling us to deploy the right alleles in the right places at the right time.

By Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton and Ken McNally,

IRRI

Mining alleles.

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Safeguarding date palm diversity through partnership

In 2001, IPGRI launched a project to safeguard the diversity of date palm in three countries of the Maghreb region of North Africa—Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Four years into the project, a great deal of progress has been made towards protecting the diversity of the crop. But something less tangible has also been achieved: a real sense of involvement and ownership of the project by the communities involved.

“As scientists, we tend to focus on our technical achievements,” said Noureddine Nasr, leader of the IPGRI/GEF/UNDP project. “This time we can also report the extraordinary ways in which the lives of the communities we worked with became tied up with the project. Their involvement was invaluable.”

Dubbed the ‘tree of divine providence’ by the many people who depend on it, the date palm provides communities in the desert oases of North Africa with countless products. For thousands of years, people travelling across the desert have carried dates with them as high-energy food. Wood from the tree is used to build homes, to make artefacts and burned for fuel. Palm fronds are used by Christians in

their celebrations of Palm Sunday and by Jews in their celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. During Ramadan, Muslims break their fast each day by eating dates.

Date palms are a key element of the oasis ecosystem. They provide shade and moisture and stabilize the soil, allowing other species such as olives, almonds, pomegranates, figs, grapes and apricots to thrive on land that would otherwise be too dry.

Yet, despite its enormous value, the diversity of date palms in the Mahgreb is under threat. One variety, ‘Deglat noor’, is hugely popular with consumers so farmers choose to grow this variety more than any other and countless local varieties have been lost as a result. In addition, the limited number of high value varieties of date palm is often susceptible to Bayoud disease, a fungal disease that has caused huge losses—over 15 million trees—to date palm farmers in Algeria and Morocco. Growing a diversity of varieties would improve resistance to this disease as well as benefiting the oasis ecosystems as a whole.

The date palm project has three main goals: to identify

and multiply local varieties of date palm for distribution to farmers; to gather and record local knowledge about these varieties; and to identify and promote alternative markets for date palm products in order to raise the value of indigenous varieties. All of these goals are being tackled in partnership with local farmers.

Farmers from project sites in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have brought samples of threatened varieties from their fields to be multiplied in the laboratories of national research institutes, universities and other project partners. In one of the project sites in Algeria, the Mozabite community has developed a particularly close relationship with the project. Community members have invited the project team to give presentations at important ceremonies such as marriages and circumcisions. “Being invited to speak at such events shows how much these communities value their date palms and the close relationships that have developed between the researchers and the local people,” said Nasr.

Slimane Bekkay, 73, is a farmer in the Beni-Isguen oasis in Ghardaia, Algeria.

The project team refers to him as ‘Am’ Slimane, which means ‘uncle Slimane’. Am Slimane is an expert in date palm and fruit tree cultivation.

Am Slimane has been an active and committed participant in project activities. His biggest contribution, however, has been a lexicon of date palm varieties.

Am Slimane realized that farmers and project researchers were using different names to describe various parts of the date palm tree. And so, drawing on the Koran, Sunna and several dictionaries, encyclopaedias and works in ancient and modern languages, he developed his lexicon. The document explains the different terms used in Arabic, Mozabite and French to describe various parts of the date palm. It also provides an

insight into the role of the date palm in Arabic and Mozabite culture, with explanations of 20 Mozabite proverbs relating to date palms and a few poems in Arabic and the Mozabite language.

“Am Slimane Bekkay’s story is one of many similar stories from the project,” said Nasr. “One of the project’s greatest accomplishments has been to bring farmers and researchers closer and we are proud of this.”

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

Am (or uncle) Slimane has been an important supporter of the date palm project in Algeria.

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For more information about the date palm project, visit the website at www.maghrebdatepalm.org

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The year 2005 has been exciting for plant scientists and archaeologists alike. A 2000-year-old date palm seed, found at an excavation site in Jerusalem and a tree species dating back to Jurassic times have found

important new roles to play—in conservation and, potentially, in medicine—in the modern world.

The date palm seed was discovered in an excavation site at Masada, a desert mountain fortress where, in AD 73, Jewish rebels chose suicide over capture by Roman legions. The seed is one of several that were

found in a storeroom at the site, probably left behind by the fort’s defenders. The age of the palm seed has been

confirmed by carbon dating. Planted in early 2005, it is the oldest seed ever to have produced a viable sapling, nicknamed ‘Methuselah’ after a biblical figure that is said to have lived 969 years.

The ancient seed originates from a variety that, despite reputedly exceptional medicinal qualities, became extinct during the Middle Ages. Researchers have sent one of the leaves to a laboratory for DNA testing. They hope that the results will provide some insights into the palm’s medicinal properties, insights that could eventually be useful to conventional medicine. “Dates had an enormous amount of use in ancient times for infections, for tumours,” said Dr Sarah Sallon, Director of the Natural Medical Research Unit of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem. Sallon and her colleagues were responsible for growing out the little plant and are watching its progress with interest. “We think that ancient medicines of the past can be the medicines of the future.”

The 1994 discovery of the Wollemi pine in Australia sparked a major conservation effort led by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Royal

Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia. One of the world’s oldest and rarest plants, the Wollemi pine dates back to the days of the dinosaurs. Today, there are fewer than 100 mature trees left.

In May 2005, as part of an initiative to raise awareness of the plight of the 200-million-year-old species, celebrities Sir David Attenborough and Kenneth Branagh planted a Wollemi pine tree at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) and another at Kew’s sister garden, Wakehurst Place (UK). In 2006, plants cultivated from the tree once thought to be extinct will go on sale to the public. Royalties from the sales will go towards conserving the Wollemi pine and other endangered plants.

By Cassandra Moore, IPGRI

This story was adapted from articles appearing in BBC News on Tuesday, 10 May

2005, ‘Tree with Jurassic Roots Unveiled’ and in the

International Herald Tribune on 13 June 2005, ‘Life from

2,000-year-old seed in Israel’.

Ancient plants get a new lease on life

Am (or uncle) Slimane has been an important supporter of the date palm project in Algeria.

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The Wollemi pine was discovered growing in a rainforest gorge situated within the 500 000 hectare Wollemi National Park in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney. Wollemi pines will soon be available for purchase.

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For more information on purchasing a Wollemi pine and to find out more about the conservation effort, visit the Wollemi Pine International website www.wollemipine.com

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Like plant tissue, isolated plant DNA can be stored, enabling the conservation of the genetic make up of plants like seedless banana varieties that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to maintain. The difference between the two conservation techniques is that plant tissue is maintained in vitro or in liquid nitrogen permitting restoration of the original plant, while DNA samples retain only the molecular components that determine the original plant’s traits. Although DNA storage does

not allow regeneration of the donor plant, it preserves genetic information that is useful in making safety duplications of crop diversity collections and in managing them-whether stored in vitro, in liquid nitrogen, in the field, or as seed.

In the field of crop diversity conservation, DNA storage is not very common and little information is available about its practice. In 2004, IPGRI conducted a worldwide survey of institutions involved in crop diversity conservation

to learn more about the prevalence of plant DNA storage.

The survey was sent to 816 international and national conservation programmes, botanic gardens, universities and private companies in 134 countries. Only 21% of

the 243 respondents stored plant DNA. Respondents cited lack of funds and insufficient equipment, personnel and training as the main reasons they were not employing DNA storage. Nevertheless, most felt that DNA storage would be very useful for future research, gene/genome conservation and safety duplication.

Respondents also indicated a desire for changes in the field of plant DNA conservation, including greater institutional coordination in making information available. Survey responses included requests for information on protocols and procedures for storing DNA, limitations and opportunities provided by DNA storage, funding sources and legal issues regarding exchange.

With regard to exchange, many questions regarding DNA exchange and intellectual property rights remain in a state of unresolved legal flux. Still, nearly half of the institutions that conserve DNA supply it to others for scientific purposes. Although these samples were usually accompanied by passport information, respondents agreed that ideally as much information as possible should be provided, including details about both the sample itself—such as storage protocols used, DNA

quality and quantity—and about the individuals and institutions associated with its storage and use.

Interestingly, roughly as many developing as developed countries conserve DNA, although developing countries report greater difficulties in procuring the necessary equipment. Respondents from developing countries, in particular, displayed considerable lack of knowledge and insecurity concerning the applications of DNA banking and associated logistical issues. The crucial needs are more and better information about the possible advantages of DNA banking and broader discussion among the scientific community of the opportunities and limitations it provides. Also, issues related to DNA exchange, intellectual property rights and patent laws must be resolved. Policy research is urgently needed in these areas to devise solutions for closing legal gaps and to make DNA storage a more broadly viable crop diversity conservation practice.

By M. Carmen de Vicente and Meike Andersson,

IPGRI, and Eloina Mesa, Escuela de Ingeniería

Industrial y Estadística, Universidad del Valle, Cali,

Colombia

DNA banks: a worldwide survey

Despite its usefulness in research and

conservation, storage of plant DNA is not

commonly employed.

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33Geneflow News

The Americas are home to many potentially valuable fruit species whose potential has not been fully realized. Papaya and pineapple, for example, are well known and cultivated. Sweet granadilla, sapodilla and babaco are less well known yet have much to offer in terms of generating income for farmers and improving people’s diets.

After several years spent compiling information on edible tropical fruits of the Americas, IPGRI recently launched the New World Fruits Database. The result of collaborative work with the Centre for International Cooperation on Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD) in France and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), this database updates an ethnobotanical inventory on tropical American fruits, which was published as a Web page.

The new database contains information on 1256 species from 303 genera and 69 families. It uses the standards set by the International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases for Plant Sciences. When available, data are included on species taxonomy, common names in eight languages and dialects, uses of the fruits and other

plant parts, photographs, bibliographic sources, expert contacts and links to sources of additional information on the Internet.

For 805 fruit species, data on origin and geographic distribution are available and complemented with maps. Potential cultivation or conservation locations are included for 415 species. However, as predictions for these sites depend on the quality and reliability of external data, this information is indicative.

The New World Fruits Database is a practical tool for researchers, breeders, students and fruit growers.

It can easily be accessed through a user-friendly interface that allows single-criterion or multiple-criteria searches using whole words or even a few of the initial letters of the criterion selected.

The new database illustrates the diversity of fruits from the Americas as well as the promise of many fruit species that ought to be promoted, studied and cultivated. There are plans to include data on marketing, nutritional content and soil requirements in the near future.

By Margarita Baena, IPGRI

New World Fruits Database

Aguaje (Mauritia flexuosa) is one of the fruits featured in the database.

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The database is available at: www.ipgri.cgiar.org/Regions/Americas/programmes/TropicalFruits/ Suggestions or comments for improvement are welcome. Contributions of data and photographs would also be appreciated and their contributors will be given credit. For further information contact Xavier Scheldeman, Scientist, Conservation and Use of Tropical Genetic Resources x.scheldeman@cgiar.org, Dimary Libreros, Information Assistant d.libreros@cgiar.org or Daniel Jimenez, Agricultural Engineer, CIAT-IPGRI d.jimenez@cgiar.org

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Few would say that crayons and water-colours have much to do with agrobiodiversity. However, in the hands of young students these school supplies can give shape and colour to the value placed on the diverse crops grown by their communities. And since today’s students are the future stewards of agrobiodiversity, their ability to illustrate this diversity provides hope that it will be respected.

This was the idea behind a painting competition recently organized by a project concerned with the conservation and sustainable use of dry-land agrobiodiversity in Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Syria. The project, funded by the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Programme, is coordinated at the regional level by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), together with IPGRI and the Arab Center for the Studies on Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD).

“Conserving agrobiodiversity requires a holistic approach,” said Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, ICARDA Director General. “We need to involve all key stakeholders, including policy-makers and farmers,

who are the main custodians of agrobiodiversity. Today’s young students are our policy-makers and custodians for the future.”

The Dryland Agrobiodiversity Project worked with the Ministries of Education in Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Syria to introduce the concept of biodiversity conservation into school curricula. “We provided teachers with guidelines and materials, such as posters and videos, to use with their students,” said Dr Ahmed Amri, the Project Coordinator. Project staff also visited schools where they gave talks and accompanied students on field trips to the project sites to give the children a first-hand view of agrobiodiversity in the field. Many schools also organized extra-curricular activities, such as environment clubs and school gardens planted with native species to further capture the children’s interest.

The painting competition was organized to assess the success of the project’s efforts to raise awareness among the students. School children between the ages of 8–14 were invited to produce paintings about topics including crop diversity, the major factors behind genetic erosion, the role of farmers and local communities in

traditional agriculture, and the role of agrobiodiversity in human nutrition and in diversifying incomes.

“The response was overwhelming,” said Amri. “We received more than 970 paintings from the four countries. It was very difficult to choose the winners.” A preliminary selection was conducted by the Ministries of Education and a special committee from the project. The final selection was made in March 2005. Four winners were chosen from each country.

The project sent T-shirts, caps and school bags to the

students that participated in the contest. The 16 winners were taken to project areas in their respective countries, where they saw project activities on the ground. They were given certificates of recognition and awarded digital cameras and painting tools, as well as furniture for their schools.

“This painting contest has shown that the students understand the message of agrobiodiversity conservation,” Amri said.

The Dryland Agrobiodiversity Project works with researchers, education experts, farmers, herders,

women’s groups and policy-makers to support community-based approaches to in situ and on-farm conservation of landraces and wild relatives of crop species including wheat, barley, lentils and fruit tree species such as olive, almond, fig and pistachio. To promote conservation, the project explores options for alternative sources of income, adding value to products, improved technologies in crop production and institutional and policy improvements.

By Swathi Sridharan, ICARDA

Agrobiodiversity and art: painting contest attracts young students Some of the winning entries from

the Agrobiodiversity and Art Contest sponsored by a GEF project on

drylands agrobiodiversity.

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For more information on the Dryland Agrobiodiversity Project, visit www.icarda.cgiar.org/Gef.html

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Banana production in northern Peru was already struggling when tropical storms caused by the El Niño hit in 1997 leaving devastated fields in their wake. While the damage was heaviest on the coast, the Chira Valley, some 50 km inland, was also badly affected, with small banana farmers losing most of their crops. For the Chira Valley alone, the losses were estimated at US$ 7 million.

The following year, the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture asked INIBAP to help rehabilitate banana production in the Chira Valley to levels capable of export. But rather than export conventional bananas into a saturated market dominated by multinationals, Salomon Soldevilla, at the time an agronomist for the Ministry, suggested that Chira Valley farmers, who own on average 0.7

hectares, produce organic bananas instead.

Because of its dry climate the Chira Valley is free of black leaf streak disease, a fungal infection that has reduced banana yields worldwide. This, coupled with its excellent soils, plenty of water for irrigation and its location only 60 km from a port that is easily accessible by a good road, Chira Valley is the perfect spot to grow and export organic bananas.

INIBAP provided support for the first organic certification, four banana packing stations, soil analyses to determine which nutrients should be supplemented in a fertilization programme and advisors to the project. The bulk of the money came from the Peruvian government. Despite these contributions, the budget for the project was very limited.

“We were given only 10 gallons [38 litres] of petrol a month,” remembered Salomon. “Sometimes, I used my own money to visit the producers.”

Despite its shoestring budget, the project helped over 1600 farmers, representing 38% of the banana producers in the Chira Valley. It also propelled Peru into the forefront of organic banana producers. In 2004, thanks to the producers in the Chira Valley, Peru was second only to the Dominican Republic in organic banana production, which in 2002 had an export value of US$ 6.1 million to the Peruvian economy. Between 1998 and 2002, the real net income of organic banana producers in the Chira Valley increased by 187%.

In 2000, representatives from Dole—the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables—were invited

to visit the region, in the hope that they might buy part of the production and export it on the organic market. Dole made the purchase and national companies have since joined the market as well. The companies cover the cost of the organic certification for the producers who sign an exclusivity contract with them. In addition to the certification, the producers are guaranteed a fixed price for their fruits. Moreover, the reduced supply of bananas on the domestic market has led to an increase in the prices paid to the producers of conventional bananas. Exporting organic bananas not only benefited the organic producers, it also helped small-scale producers get a better price for their non-organic bananas.

By Anne Vezina, INIBAP

Organic bananas in Peru

Antonio Vilas produces organic bananas in the Chira valley.

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The Chira river in northern Peru, home to the country’s organic banana industry.

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Fears that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could endanger small-scale maize production in Mexico may be relieved, thanks to the innovations of farmers. At the time the agreement was struck in 1994, maize production accounted for 60% of both Mexico’s cultivated land and its agricultural output by value, providing a source of livelihood for over three million producers. While NAFTA has created some of the anticipated upheaval, with slow economic growth and rock-bottom prices for maize grain, many farmers have remained in rural areas and continue to grow maize as they have for centuries. How have they coped with the changing economic conditions?

An analysis of Veracruz State’s Zona Totonaca, an area with a large indigenous population as well as poverty levels that are severe relative to other parts of Mexico, offers some insight. In Veracruz, maize is produced mostly on parcels as small as two hectares, with farmers preparing their fields manually and using few chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Here, as in most of Mexico, maize is a staple food closely linked with cultural identity. It provides much of the day’s caloric intake in the form of tortillas and tamales.

Over thousands of years, farmers have created hundreds of folk or criollo maize varieties, turning Mexico into a centre of diversity for the crop. This selection process has allowed farmers to adapt the crop to changing environments and has provided them with varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases. However, the advent of NAFTA has resulted in incentives to switch to new export crops and hybrid maize varieties. Many farmers without the resources to intensify production and take advantage of export opportunities have left the agricultural sector altogether. NAFTA threatened Mexico’s maize diversity by undermining the

demand for folk varieties as well as the cultural and agricultural practices that maintain them. Indeed, NAFTA resulted in a flood of US exports, with maize grain prices dropping as much as 48% from 1994 to 1996.

In Veracruz, farmers unable to compensate for low prices by diversifying their harvest hit upon a solution to the economic crisis they faced. They switched their attention from the maize grain to the maize husks, called totomoxtle, with the intention of exporting them to the United States for tamale production. Men, women and children are involved in the multi-stage preparation process and, while many of the tasks pay relatively little, the sale of the totomoxtle itself provides an important source of added income for families. In some areas, husk production is now even more important than grain, earning farmers about ten times the price. Furthermore, it has provided an incentive for farmers to continue to grow their criollo varieties, which provide superior totomoxtle. Instead of focusing on cob or kernel size, farmers look for the punta aguda, a sharp point that indicates longer maize husks and cobs that are suave, which refers to the soft feeling produced when squeezing husk-laden cobs.

Adaptation has also been seen in storage practices. Most farmers in low-lying areas of Veracruz store maize on the intact cob to prevent insect damage. With the increasing importance of the husk, some farmers have begun to remove the husk, risking insect damage to the kernels. This change in storage practice emphasizes the fact that husks, rather than grain, are taking on primary economic importance as a cash crop.

If husk production continues to be an important source of income for households, adding to maize’s value as a food staple, it may reduce the chances that maize production by small-scale farmers will disappear, as was the feared impact of NAFTA. What is more, it shows how small-scale farmers have proved surprisingly resilient in their coping strategies, redefining themselves in their struggle to live in a landscape of change.

By Amanda King, IFPRI

The story above draws from research carried out

by Amanda King at the International Center for Maize

and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) during her time as a Mickey Leland International

Hunger Fellow of the US Congressional Hunger Center.

Trade and totomoxtle

In Veracruz, farmers have been able to stave off a feared

economic crisis by switching their attention from maize

grains to the husks, which they export for tamale production.

As an added benefit, it has inspired farmers to continue to grow their traditional varieties,

which produce superior husks.

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GlossaryAbiotic: Nonliving. The abiotic factors of the environment include light, temperature and atmospheric gases.

Accession: Plant sample, strain or population held in a genebank or breeding programme for conservation or use.

Beta-carotene: An isomer of carotene that can be efficiently converted to vitamin A by the body.

Biodiversity: The total variability within and among species of all living organisms and their habitats.

Biofortification: The process of breeding food crops that are rich in micronutrients.

Carotenoid: Any of a class of yellow to red pigments found widely in plants and animals. Probably the most well-known carotenoid is the one that gives this group its name, carotene.

Centre of diversity: The geographic region in which the greatest variability of a crop occurs. A primary centre of diversity is the region of presumed origin and secondary centres are regions of high diversity that have developed as a result of the subsequent spread of a crop.

CGIAR: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations and private foundations

supporting 15 international agricultural research centres.

Cultivar: A variety of a plant that has been created or selected intentionally and maintained through cultivation.

Ecosystem: An ecological system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment.

Ex situ conservation: Conservation of a plant outside of its original or natural habitat.

GEF: The Global Environment Facility. Established in 1991, GEF helps developing countries fund projects and programmes that protect the global environment.

Genebank: Facility where crop diversity is stored in the form of seeds, pollen, in vitro culture or DNA, or in the case of a field genebank as plants growing in the field.

Gene pool: All the genes and their alleles present in an interbreeding population.

Genetic diversity: The genetic variation present in a population or species.

Genetic erosion: Loss of genetic diversity between and within populations of the same species over time or reduction of the genetic base of a species due to human intervention, environmental changes, etc.

Genetic resources: Genetic material of plants, animals

and other organisms, which is of value for present and future generations of people.

Genotype: 1. The genetic constitution of an organism; 2. A group of organisms with similar genetic constitutions.

Germplasm: A set of genotypes that can be conserved or used.

Hidden hunger: A lack of essential micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals.

In situ conservation: Conservation of plants or animals in the areas where they developed their distinctive properties, i.e. in the wild or in farmers’ fields.

In vitro conservation: Conservation of plant material in test tubes, literally ‘in glass’.

Indigenous/traditional knowledge: Knowledge that develops in a particular area and accumulates over time through being handed down from generation-to-generation.

Landrace: Farmer-developed variety of a crop plant that is adapted to local environmental conditions.

Micronutrient: An essential dietary element, such as a vitamin or mineral, that is required in minute amounts for the proper growth and metabolism of a living organism.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Eight development goals adopted

by the United Nations in 2000. The MDGs range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015.

Regeneration: The growing out of a sample from an accession to replenish the viability of the original accession.

Wild relative: A non-cultivated species that is more or less closely related to a crop species (usually in the same genus). It is not normally used for agriculture but can occur in agro-ecosystems (e.g. as a weed or a component of pasture or grazing lands).

International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI)

Via dei Tre Denari 472/a00057 Maccarese, RomeItaly

Tel: +39 06 6118 1Fax: +39 06 61979Email: ipgri@cgiar.orgWeb: www.ipgri.cgiar.orgDiversity for Well-being