Official Newsletter of the WANA Seed Network
No. 37,
June 2009
PDF File (1.4
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Books and journal articles and other literature of interest to readers are presented here. Please send information on seed and other agriculture related publications on policy, regulation, and technology to the Editor for inclusion in Seed Info.
Books
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When Disaster Strikes: A Guide to Assessing Seed System Security is a practical assessment tool. It will help emergency relief agencies and their field workers to decide whether a seed-related intervention is warranted in the first place, and if so, to design the best strategy to help farmers. The method is laid out in seven steps. Each includes how-to notes, guiding questions, and action checklists. Besides helping agencies understand and cope with acute stresses on seed systems, the guide also tackles the issue of longer-term stresses and how to take advantage of development opportunities. Download the manual at: http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/africa/pdf/sssa_manual_ciat.pdf.
Erskine, W., F. Muehlbauer, A. Sarker, and B. Sharma. (ed). 2009. The Lentil: Botany, Production and Uses. The lentil with its ancient origin is today very much a crop of the modern world confronted with issues of food security, poverty, water scarcity and the need to find sustainable agricultural systems in a changing climate. In the last three decades the global production of lentil had almost tripled due not only to larger harvest areas but also and more importantly to an increase in productivity. The Lentil provides a timely synopsis of the current knowledge associated with this highly digestible and protein-packed grain with its ability to use water efficiently and to grow in marginal environments. This book will be of interest to those working in horticulture, agronomy and botany with a particular focus on lentils. CABI, ISBN 9781845934873; 480pp; Price: $190.00
Tripp, R. (ed.) 2009. Biotechnology and Agricultural Development: Transgenic Cotton, Rural Institutions and Resource Poor Farmers. This book addresses the continuing controversy over the potential impact of genetically modified (GM) crops in developing countries. Supporters of the technology claim it offers one of the best hopes for increasing agricultural production and reducing rural poverty, while opponents see it as an untested intervention that will bring corporate control of peasant farming. The book examines the issues by reviewing the experience of GM, insect-resistant cotton, the most widely grown GM crop in developing countries.
The book begins with an introduction to agricultural biotechnology, a brief examination of the history of cotton production technology (and the institutions required to support that technology), and a thorough review of the literature on the agronomic performance of GM cotton. It then provides a review of the economic and institutional outcomes of GM cotton during the first decade of its use. The core of the book is four country case studies based on original fieldwork in the principal developing countries growing GM cotton (China, India, South Africa and Colombia). The book concludes with a summary of the experience to date and implications for the future of GM crops in developing countries.
This review challenges those who have predicted technological failure by describing instances in which GM cotton has proven useful and has been enthusiastically taken up by smallholders. But it also challenges those who claim that biotechnology can take the lead in agricultural development by examining the precarious institutional basis on which these hopes rest in most countries. The analysis shows how biotechnology's potential contribution to agricultural development must be seen as a part of (and often secondary to) more fundamental policy change. The book should be of interest to a wide audience concerned with agricultural development. This would include academics in the social and agricultural sciences, donor agencies and NGOs. Amazon.com, ISBN-10: 0415543843, 280 pp, Price: $30.33.
Wesleym E. and F. Peterson. 2009. A billion dollars a day. If agricultural development is to succeed through fairer international trade rather than aid, it will only happen with the reduction or elimination of agricultural subsidies paid by governments to farmers in the wealthier nations. These subsidies in North America, Europe, Oceania, Korea and Japan amount to some one billion dollars a day - the title of this book. The book provides a detailed study of the history of subsidies, current policies that continue to support them, and their impact on farmers in the developing world.
The study is certainly detailed but, although aimed at the general reader as well as the economist. An important subject, undoubtedly complex, comprehensively presented, but not an easy read. Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-1-4051-8586-8(Pb); 292pp: Price: £17.99
Useful Websites, Journals, Newsletters
Harvest Choice
The HarvestChoice initiative has launched a comprehensive collection of data products designed to better inform strategic policy and investment decisions aimed at improving farm productivity and profitability, and market development. The website is intended to be the "go-to" resource for analysts and decision makers seeking integrated, consistent, and spatially referenced information, provided in an interactive portal. The data collection focuses on factors relevant to crop production and marketing in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) agriculture, such as climate, soil and pest conditions and constraints, current and future cropping systems geography and performance, and access to markets. Recognizing the site-specific nature of many interventions designed to boost productivity, especially in the rainfed systems common throughout SSA, HarvestChoice takes a spatial approach, using interfaces built around open-source platforms such as Google Maps. By providing both public and private investors with an increasingly broad and in-depth understanding of major production and marketing challenges and opportunities, HarvestChoice hopes to shed light on the potential payoffs to productivity-enhancing innovations for smallholder farmers, as well as how to promote the commercialization of smallholder agriculture. The HarvestChoice website will continuously be updated and improved over time. To view the website and download these early data offerings, visit:
http://www.harvestchoice.org
ILAC
The Institutional Learning and Change (ILAC) Initiative has launched its new interactive website. You are invited to visit the site, specially the section 'resources', where you can find important methods for evaluation and impact of collaborative projects. ILAC Library section covers over 1200 references related to participatory research, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment, organizational learning and much more. You can sign up for receiving ILAC news at the link is www.cgiar-ilac.org. For more information you may contact: Cristina Sette, Program Specialist, ILAC Initiative, c/o Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari 472a 00057 Maccarese (Fiumicino), Rome, Italy; Email: c.sette@cgiar.org
New Journals
Genetically Modified Crops
In July 2009, GM Crops, the first international peer-reviewed journal of its kind will be launched to focus exclusively on genetically modified crops. Genetic engineering techniques and applications have developed rapidly since the introduction of the first genetically modified plants in the 1980s. There has been a rapid increase in GM crop R&D by academia, government and industry around the world. GM crops are useful to consumers, farmers and the environment and are growing in popularity worldwide.
GM crops are needed to tackle the food needs of a growing population. Crops with improved agronomic characteristics can provide protection against many of the biotic stresses caused by weeds, pests, and diseases currently experienced in developing countries. Also, GM crop R&D is focused on the development of more complex traits, such as drought resistance and the development of foods with enhanced nutritional value which may provide a low-cost way of dealing with widespread malnutrition problems.
Because GM crops can address key challenges in the food and agricultural sector, it is expected that the number of GM crops ready for commercial release in many countries will expand considerably over the next few years. Genetic modification is a tool integrated into a wider research agenda, where public and privatscience can balance each other. Scientists in both the public and private sectors regard the GM process as a major new set of tools to improve crop traits, while industry regards it as an opportunity for increased profits. Genetically modified crop varieties allegedly provide farmers with various agronomic benefits, but serious environmental, health and ethical concerns also are being raised.
All of these issues will be addressed in GM Crops, through original research, timely reviews and commentaries. For more information, please contact: Dr Naglaa A. Abdallah, Editor-in-Chief, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt or visit http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/gmcrops/
Seed Newsletter
Seed News is the seed industry publication in Brazil covering all subjects related to seed technology. It is published bimonthly in Portuguese, Spanish and English and distributed via e-mail. To date the newsletter is distributed mostly in the Americas, but also in Africa, Asia and Europe and Australia. Seed News is available to readers worldwide via the Internet (http://www.seednews.inf.br/). Please, send your inquiries to: seednews@seednews.inf.br