Tag: India
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THE STIGMA OF GRASSPEA
The ancient Greeks, notably Hippocrates, were pretty wary of grasspea (Lathyrus sativa). They figured if they ate too much they’d get some neurological disorders. The stigma of grasspea still persists today in many parts of the world.Last month I joined a team from the Crop Trust‘s BOLD Project to visit researchers and farmers in India […]
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GRASSPEA IS A GRACIOUS GIFT OF GOD GLOBALLY (5G)
As I stood in the middle of a 28-acre community managed grasspea field in West Bengal, India, I asked how the villagers divided the tasks of managing the field. There were puzzled looks on the farmers’ faces. ‘There is no labour with grasspea … only sowing. God does the rest.’ Former ICARDA pulse breed Ashuthosh […]
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SHUSHILA SPEAKS OUT
As our convoy of three cars arrived to Bamuliya, a village an hour out of Bhopal, we were met by a gaggle of men. They escorted us to a field neatly planted with grasspea. I asked which of the men was the farmer and then attached a microphone to his shirt. I forgot some equipment, […]
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MARUTI THE PIGEONPEA SAVIOUR
In the early 1980s, the Indian state of Karnataka was suffering. Its principle commercial crop, pigeonpea, was being devastated by wilt. Researchers discovered some pigeonpea seeds in the genebank of the International Crops Research Center for Semi-Arid Tropics which were resistant to wilt. The seeds were directly released from the genebank to pigeonpea specialists in […]
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KASHMIR’S LAKE DAL
Allāhu akbar! The Muslim call to prayer at dawn woke us all from our deep sleep on the houseboat. They must have a special New Year’s Day version of the call because it seemed to go on forever. It was a good alarm clock for me though as I wanted to get up at dawn […]
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