Annual Report
- 2005
Annual Report 2005
From here you can explore the various stories contained in Bioversity's Annual Report for 2005. The supplementary information -- for example Financial Information, Staff and details of Bioversity's projects -- are not published on the Web. However, they can be found in a printable PDF of the Annual Report, which can be downloaded here.
Alternatively, if you would prefer to receive a printed copy, please send your address details by e mail.
Foreword
An annual report customarily looks back at the achievements of the year just past, and this one is no different. But IPGRI has spent much of the past year looking forward to its future and the implementation of its new...
Animal diversity attracts attention
For nomadic people, like these pastoralists in Niger, animals are often the most important asset they own. W.Bayer
Local livestock breeds are every bit as important to food production and livelihoods as crop diversity. A recent meeting investigated some of the issues involved in the conservation of farm animal genetic resources. Animals...
What's on the menu?
Foods of the Nairobi People, by Ruth Adeka, Maryam Imbumi and Patrick Maundu, provides information on the various foods available at Nairobi markets. In addition to photographs, it contains masses of data, including season, vernacular names, scientific names, uses and much else besides, making it an invaluable resource.
Strategic efforts to improve nutrition through dietary diversity have stressed the need to broaden the evidence base. A survey of almost 800 households in Nairobi, Kenya, has begun to do just that. A food consumption research...
Vital vitamins in a handy peelable package
Two vitamin–rich varieties being prepared as ampesi, a Ghanaian dish of boiled plantain and stew. A. Ntakwa
People may have enough to eat but still be malnourished. A new project will enhance the nutritional contribution of bananas and plantains, a staple food in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Almost two-fifths of the children in...
An improved tool to assess local crop diversity
Villagers at Sundaridada in Nepal decide where each rice variety should be placed in the four- cell matrix. On the green square, common varieties, or on the red square, rare varieties. Those in the white squares are at risk, but in different ways. P. Shrestha
An essential first step in planning to use and conserve biodiversity to improve people’s lives is to understand what they currently have, and why and how they use it. A new tool helps researchers and farmers to participate in...
Biodiversity garden takes root
A new garden at the old town rubbish dump near Nebk, Syria, will showcase ancient methods for harvesting water, which remain effective today. R. Khalil/Bioversity
Working slowly, to ensure full support from all sectors of the community, Bioversity helped to create a consortium that included the City Council, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, the Deir Mar Mousa monastery, a...
Tropical fruit conservation: a taste of success
Cryopreservation tanks can store hundreds of samples in liquid nitrogen for decades and more. S. Ashmore
Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam collaborated on a project to improve the storage of tropical fruit genetic diversity. The project’s research results show that improved conservation is within our...
Coconuts, income and equity in the Philippines
Simple spinning machines convert waste coconut fibre into rope. E. Manohar
Poverty Reduction in Coconut Growing Communities, a project coordinated by the COGENT network, has been active in communities across eight countries of Asia, developing models to research what works best on the ground. An...
Collaboration, people and policy
Developing carefully thought out policy positions is all very well, but they are pointless unless people can make use of them. An important aspect of policy work is therefore to raise awareness and build capacity. Two examples...
Exemplary impact of neglected species project
Electrical mini- mills allow a woman to prepare the millet for a day’s meals in ten minutes instead of two hours, just one factor that helped to create a resurgence of interest in abandoned crop. J.Cherfas/Bioversity
A project to enhance the contribution of neglected and underutilized species to food security and incomes of the rural poor has just ended. An evaluation for the donor concluded that the project delivered very substantial value...
Rejuvenated bananas justify genebank confidence
The genebank at CIP in Peru was one of the first to experiment with bar-coding accessions, a new technology that has improved accuracy at the banana genebank too. J.Cherfas/Bioversity
After years in suspended animation in Belgium, hundreds of banana plants went back to tropical fields for a thorough health check and to ensure that they really are what they say they are.
One of the things that genebank...
SINGER’s efforts ease access to information
The System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources— SINGER—has become the partner of choice for harnessing and making available information on crop diversity, and is at the centre of new efforts to add value to genebank...
