Geneflow
- 2004
From here you can explore the various stories contained in Geneflow 2004, IPGRI's publication about the earth's genetic resources. This edition includes a special section dedicated to the Global Crop Diversity Trust, a new international fund that aims to support the long term conservation of the world's crop diversity.
Alternatively, you may wish to download a printable PDF of Geneflow 2004, which you can do (1.26 Mb).
If you would prefer to receive a printed copy of the publication, please send your address details by e mail.
A publication about agricultural biodiversity
Emile Frison: The new director General of IPGRI
Dr Emile Frison, Director General of IPGRI.
"I want IPGRI to demonstrate the benefits of diversity for people. I see this as a tremendous opportunity to make a relatively bold change in how we work with people."This is the vision of Dr Emile Frison, the...
Dr Emile Frison, Director General of IPGRI.
IPGRIs new strategy focuses on conserving and using crop diversity to improve the lives of people in poor countries.
On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, IPGRI has released a strategy to guide its programme of work over the next decade. The new strategy charts a course for achieving IPGRI's goal: to help ensure that people today and in...
Grapes of Herat, Afghanistan
Herati farmers grow an abundance of crops in addition to grapes. Here, a farmer and his son show off their rockmelon harvest.
After twenty-three years of war and Taliban rule, Afghanistan is starting to rebuild basic infrastructure that the West takes for granted. Fortunately, much of its historical heritage remains largely intact. Although a Taliban...
Traditional african leafy vegetables: From despised to prized
Kenyan woman harvesting a vegetable locally known as Mtsunga or Launaea curnuta. This is the most important vegetable in her community. It grows continuously on cultivated lands.
Considered unfashionable and even shameful only a few years ago, traditional leafy vegetables have become exceptionally popular in Kenya and other sub-Saharan African countries. Crop diversity experts are helping dispel the...
Early experience shapes ethnobotanist's career
Patrick Maundu examines nightshade, one of the leafy vegetables now experiencing a resurgence in Kenya.
Patrick Maundu is an ethnobotanist who coordinates the African leafy vegetable programme at IPGRI. Patrick was born in Maweli, a rural village in eastern Kenya. His community members, the Kamba, are traditionally livestock...
Dietary diversity aids nutrition
A diet lacking in diversity can seriously damage human health.
A simple solution is often invoked to help the world's 800 million undernourished people: more food. But more food alone will not solve the crisis. People's diets must be diverse enough to provide them with proper nutrition....
Adding value to Andean grains
Milled quinoa and canahua can be used to prepare many dishes such as empanadas, cookies and cakes.
Quinoa and canahua are highly nutritious cereal crops whose main centre of diversity is around Lake Titicaca, which is shared by Bolivia and Peru. The crops were widely cultivated in pre-Hispanic times but are now facing ...
New unit to promote agricultural biodiversity
The injection of bees into agricultural systems enhances productivity by improving pollination of the crops. It also offers opportunities for farmers to earn income from honey and other products.
A new facilitation unit for agricultural biodiversity is being established by the System-wide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). An international...
2004 is the International Year of Rice
Women planting rice in a paddy field. Orissa, India.
It is not very often that the United Nations dedicates an entire calendar year to the celebration of a single crop. In fact, it has never happened. That is, until 2004 was declared the International Year of Rice by the United...
Masai Mara Count paints detailed picture of region's wildlife
The Masai Mara Count reveals rich detail about the regions human and animal inhabitants.
The Masai Mara region in Kenya is home to lions, cheetahs, warthogs, wildebeests, and baboons to name just a few of its wild animals. However, over the past twenty years, more than half of the big mammals of the region,...
The GREEN Foundation: supporting traditional agriculture in India
Participatory characterization of sorghum varieties
Not far from Bangalore, a cluster of villages nestle between the hillocks, sheltered from the hustle and bustle of India's global high tech capital. The lives of the farming communities that inhabit these villages revolve...
Date palm diversity - one farmer's story
Mohamed Latrache Ben Baali proudly displays his date palm varieties.
Mohamed Latrache Ben Baali is a 63 year-old farmer from Berraiane (Ghardaia, Algeria). Twenty years ago, he established a 7-hectare farm and planted a variety of fruit trees, including fig, citrus and date palm. Today, Mohamed...
Neglected no more
Medicinal and aromatic plants such as oregano and mint have great value throughout West Asia and North Africa.
It is a fairly well known fact that 50% of the world's caloric intake comes from only three crops - rice, wheat, and maize. And only 150 crops are commercialized on a global scale. Ethnobotanic surveys indicate that at least...
The rediscovery of leafy vegetable boosts appreciation for diversity
Farming communities in South Africa eat both the leaves and the fruit of the phara plant.
In 2002, two villages in the Limpopo province of South Africa lost the leafy vegetable known as phara. A combination of natural and human factors caused phara to disappear from the area. Today, thanks to a partnership between...
Women of Ghana challenge trend towards modern rice varieties
Equipment for parboiling oflocal rice in Northern Ghana.
Many communities in northern Ghana are strongly patrilineal by tradition. Only men can own land or dictate farming practices for the family. But in certain areas of northern Ghana, it is women who are ensuring the survival of ...
Equipment for parboiling oflocal rice in Northern Ghana.
The team that developed the distance course on ex situ conservation represented a wide range of institutions and disciplines.
Traditionally, learning has involved gathering students in one place for instruction. These days, information and communication technologies allow the creation of virtual classrooms comprising people physically located in many...
European countries join forces to ease access to crop diversity information
EURISCO is catologuing European holdings of the region's most important crops.
Europe has exceptionally rich collections of crop diversity - almost two million accessions conserved ex situ. These collections are held by national genebanks and research institutions throughout the region. Until recently,...
Plant genetic resources networking in the Pacific
PAPGREN is helping to connect small island nations like Fiji with its neighbours in the Pacific.
The island nations of Oceania are spread across 30 million km2 of the Pacific. The activities of generations of farmers living on the islands, coupled with their isolation, has allowed the development of tremendous diversity in...
Collections of ancient crop at risk in Central Asia
The world's largest pomegranate collection is in grave danger due to a lack of stable funding.
Pomegranate is a rich fruit, both in terms of its history and its physical characteristics. With the world's largest pomegranate collection in danger of being lost forever, IPGRI has launched an initiative to enhance the...
Latin American governments decentralize forest management
A new book examines forest management in Costa Rica and five other countries in Latin America. Braulio Carrilo National Park, Costa Rica.
Local governments in Latin America used to have little power beyond performing simple civil actions such as giving out birth certificates or collecting garbage.
Now, mayors and town councils are increasingly taking initiatives...
Ice age beech range scores high in diversity
Stands of beech trees in the Hyrcanian forests of Iran exhibit surprising diversity, possibly because they were only indirectly affected by glaciation during the Ice Age.
The great Ice Age that accompanied the end of the Tertiary period 1.8 million years ago drastically altered many of the world's ecosystems.
Glacial sheets from polar areas moved onto the continents, crushing forests and forcing...
Brewing bananas assists conservation
A family processing banana brew at their farm, Bushenyi District. Note the pit for ripening the bananas on the left far end and the wooden 'canoe' in which the bananas are mashed and fermented.
Behind every alcoholic drink there is a virtuous plant.
It sometimes comes as a surprise to find out that gin comes from juniper berries and vodka from potatoes. But in the rural areas of developing countries, farming...
