Tag: BOLD
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THE ‘YOU NEVER KNOW’ RICE
A rice variety developed in China in 2008, stored in international genebanks, has emerged as a top-performing crop in Pakistan. After years of preservation and testing, this resilient strain—now called NARC-RICE-1—demonstrates the vital role of seed conservation in ensuring future food security.
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A SEED’S JOURNEY TO THE FAR FAR NORTH
It’s a long long way between Zimbabwe and the Svalbard Archipelago in the Barents Sea inside the Arctic Circle. It’s 10,500 km precisely. That’s a long way for a seed to travel. But a bunch of vacuum packed seeds of rice, sorghum, millets and groundnuts made that journey this week. I saw those seeds at […]
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BETTER CHICKPEAS FOR KOT SARANG
Blight decimated the chickpea crop in the Punjab village of Kot Sarang a decade or so ago. Farmers were reluctant to plant it again. But breeders from Pakistan’s National Agricultural Research Center found types of chickpea in the National Genebank of Pakistan that had some resistance to the blight. The breeders planted those chickpeas in […]
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THE VARIED PERSONALITIES OF MALUNGA
The last time it rained in Malunga was in January. The rainy season ended early in this part of the Motobo District of southwestern Zimbabwe, on the fringe of the Kalahari. The village only recorded 181 mm of rain during the rainy season, due to an El Niño-induced drought. The region is arid regardless and […]
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GOOD TO BE ORGANISED
For three days, my Crop Trust colleague, Beri, and I have been visiting farmers in Zimbabwe. As we arrive to each destination, we find a group ranging from 25 to 200 of farmers awaiting us under the shade of a tree or two. Without fail we are greeted with song and dance, which continue throughout […]
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ASK THE WOMEN
A long time ago a client asked me to document a forestry project in the rural town of Hojancha in northern Costa Rica. I took photos of proud men standing by amazing stands of introduced eucalypts, Gmelina and teak. The trees were grown for both timber and firewood. But I learned the women weren’t too […]
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A POTATO JOURNEY FROM WISCONSIN TO KENYA
I started out begrudgingly planting potatoes for a merit badge in Wisconsin. Decades later, I found myself in Kenya, watching advanced potato breeding at work. From garden patches to in vitro labs, I’ve come to appreciate the science behind every spud, and the people shaping its future.
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THEY’RE HARVESTING POTATOES IN KENYA
Potato harvesting in Kenya is being transformed through improved farming practices, including better seed selection, soil management, and access to agricultural support. These changes are helping smallholder farmers increase yields, strengthen food security, and build more resilient livelihoods in the face of climate and economic challenges across the region.
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THE PEA OF THE CHAR
As I jumped off the horse cart and landed on the sandy soil of Charbongram, an island in the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh, I kicked what appeared to be a weed. It was a scraggly, prostrate plant somehow surviving where no other plants could. ‘That’s grasspea,’ said ICARDA pulses breeder Shiv Agrawal proudly as if […]
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