Tag: Peru
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ASKING THE WOMEN
A few decades ago, crop breeders would develop new varieties which they thought farmers wanted and then expect farmers to plant those improved seeds. That didn’t work so well because farmers and breeders don’t always think alike. Nowadays good breeders get farmers involved early on in the process of developing new varieties and ask their opinion before the varieties are released. Our Crop Wild Relatives Project has helped breeders at the International Potato Center develop some climate-smart potatoes. But before the new varieties are released the breeders are asking farmers to…
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POTATOES FOR A CHANGING CLIMATE
Climate change is reducing potato yields due to drought, heat, and diseases like late blight and bacterial wilt. The Crop Trust’s Crop Wild Relatives Project is funding a pre-breeding project in Peru and Kenya that aims to develop improved potatoes by tapping into the genetic diversity available in the wild relatives of potato … there are about 150 known species of wild potatoes. These potato wild relatives grow in diverse soils and climates, from the dry desert along the Peruvian coast, to the inter-Andean valleys, up to altitudes of 4,200 meters…
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CUSCO: THE FORGOTTEN JOURNAL
Our son, Xander, has left on a grand South America adventure which will take him to Brazil, Argentina and Peru. One of the highlights of the trip will be a seven-day trek along the Inca Trail. I told Xander about my own experiences in Cusco and Machu Picchu when I was about his age. And I told him my biggest regret: I didn’t keep a journal. So before he departed, I advised him to take plenty of pictures and write it all down so 30 years later he can relive those…
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ABOARD THE DELPHIN IN THE AMAZON
While a grad student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I took a course on tropical agriculture and studied under the great Amazonia scholar Dr William Deneven. I was mesmerised by his tales of the Amazon. And so was my classmate, Oliver Coomes, who decided to write his PhD dissertation on the riverine peasants – the ribereños – of a tributary of the Peruvian Amazon known as the Rio Tahuayo. When class wrapped up for the summer Oliver got ready to leave for a year of research in the Amazon. I told…
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LONG-TERM GAINS IN THE AMAZON
Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria, Peruvian Amazon – 1989 ‘Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.’ Edward O. Wilson Those of you in my generation growing up in America probably had the same Sunday evening pastime as my family: we would watch the National Geographic specials. I loved that show and would dream of venturing off to far off, exotic lands in search of untouched natural wonders. On one of those evenings I vowed that someday I would travel to the Amazon. But I didn’t…
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