Tag Archives: sweet potato

Breast milk, indigenous food: A mother’s recipe for healthy children

Posted on May 12, 2014 by argylesock

Here’s Velvet Escario Roxas, a Filipino mother, telling us that children in the Philippines need breast milk and indigenous foods, not Golden Rice. Mrs Roxas says that Filipino women should breastfeed as she did. After weaning, she says these women … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged Asia, biotechnology, child, crop diversity, food availability, food sovereignty, fruit, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, leaf, local variety, mango, milk, moringa, nutrition, papaya, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, rice, sweet potato, tradition, vegetable, Vitamin A, woman | 2 Comments

The homogenisation and globalisation of diets

Posted on April 25, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?:
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that some 75% of the diversity of cultivated crops was lost during the 20th Century and, by 2050, we could lose…

Posted in agriculture, food, horticulture, human health, money and trade | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, cassava, city, climate, conservation, crop, crop diversity, crop variety, development, disease, Europe, Food and Agriculture Organization, food safety, genetic diversity, grain, human, iodine, iron, law, micronutrient, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, pest, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, population, potato, prosperity, research, rice, rye, seedbank, staple food, sugar beet, sugar cane, sweet potato, trade, tuber, Vitamin A, wheat | 6 Comments

GMO breakthroughs and fakethroughs

Posted on March 19, 2014 by argylesock

It can be difficult to know who to believe about genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The scientific peer review system is no guarantee of truth, nor are the news media, nor are blogs like this one. Jonathan Latham of the US-based … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer | Tagged academia, bacterial rice leaf blight, bacterium, banana, biofortification, biotechnology, cassava, development, disease resistance, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, International Rice Research Institute, knowledge, Monsanto, nutrition, oral vaccination, pathogen, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, research, rice, staple food, sustainable, sweet potato, tuber, vaccine, virus | 1 Comment

Golden Rice is ‘no solution’ to malnutrition

Posted on September 9, 2013 by argylesock

GRAIN says that Golden Rice is no solution to malnutrition. Golden Rice is a variety of rice (Oryza sativa) which has been genetically modified (GM, also called genetically engineered or GE) to make beta-carotene in its grains. After you eat … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biofortification, biotechnology, carrot, child, crop diversity, crop rotation, crop variety, development, finance, food, genetic modification, Golden Rice, grain, Green Revolution, hemipteran, integrated pest management, International Rice Research Institute, knowledge, land use, local variety, neonicotinoid, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, patent, pest, pesticide, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, poverty, pumpkin, research, rice, selective breeding, smallholder, sweet potato, Syngenta, System of Rice Intensification, vegetable, Vitamin A, woman | 3 Comments

Solutions for micronutrient deficiency

Posted on September 8, 2013 by argylesock

argylesock says… Here are thoughtful words about malnutrition. My fellow blogger Anastasia Bodnar at Genetic Maize talks a lot of sense here but I’ll clarify some of her remarks about biofortification (the last section in her article). Golden Rice is … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged African Biofortified Sorghum, biofortification, biotechnology, breeding, cassava, child, corn, crop, crop variety, development, food, garden, genetic modification, Golden Rice, human, International Rice Research Institute, maize, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, Orange Maize, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, poverty, rice, selective breeding, sorghum, staple food, sweet potato, Syngenta, Vitamin A, woman, Yellow Cassava | 3 Comments

Biofortified crops steal the spotlight

Posted on July 20, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on The FARA Social Reporters Blog:
AASW participants viewing vitamin A cassava at the CGIAR booth during AASW6. Two biofortified crops both conventionally bred to contain more vitamin A, have attracted strong interest at the Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW)…

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biofortification, breeding, cassava, corn, crop, crop variety, food, human, knowledge, maize, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, Orange Maize, selective breeding, staple food, sweet potato, vegetable variety, Vitamin A, Yellow Cassava | Leave a comment

Agricultural biotech against poverty and hunger

Posted on July 11, 2013 by argylesock

Too many people are hungry. Many of the hungry people are African. Biotechnology might help. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) tells us how biotech can help to feed people. ‘A successful strategy should have MULTIPLE … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, food, knowledge transfer, money and trade | Tagged Africa, biotechnology, breeding, cassava, corn, crop variety, development, feed, food, fruit, fuel, genetic modification, grain, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, knowledge, legume, maize, marker assisted selection, melon, millet, pearl millet, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, potato, research, seed, selective breeding, sorghum, soya, staple food, sugar cane, sweet potato, textile, tissue culture, tomato, trade, transport, tuber, wheat | 3 Comments

Neonicotinoids, A Brief History II: Imidacloprid

Posted on June 24, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on Living With Insects Blog:
Nicotine has several undesirable properties for use as an insecticide. On a per weight basis, nicotine is generally more toxic to vertebrates than to insects. Compared to other insecticides, nicotine was used in…

Posted in agriculture, ecology, horticulture, miniculture | Tagged arthropod, hemipteran, history, imidacloprid, insect, insecticide, neonicotinoid, nicotine, pest, pesticide, sweet potato, vegetable, whitefly | 1 Comment

New Commitments to Combat Malnutrition

Posted on June 9, 2013 by argylesock

Originally posted on ECO-opia:
June 8, 2013 by News from the CGIAR Consortium Speaking today at the event “Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science,” Rachel Kyte, Chair of the CGIAR Fund Council and World Bank Vice…

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged amaranth, breeding, child, corn, crop, development, disease, food, human, iron, maize, millet, neglected crop, nutrition, pearl millet, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, politics, poverty, research, staple food, sustainable, sweet potato, vegetable, vegetable variety, Vitamin A, woman, zoonosis | Leave a comment

Sweet potatoes to let you see in the dark

Posted on March 23, 2013 by argylesock

Sweet potatoes are a staple food in many parts of the world, particularly in hot climates where they grow well. There are white-fleshed ones and orange-fleshed ones. The orange-fleshed ones help people’s eyesight. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) contain carotene. It … Continue reading →

Posted in food, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged biotechnology, breeding, development, genetic modification, human, nutrition, Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, plant_dicot, poverty, rice, selective breeding, staple food, sweet potato, tuber, Vitamin A | 10 Comments