Vegetable Varieties

From worldwatch institute, an article that talks about two organizations that are working on maintaining seeds and the culture of growing in african communities.

AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center develops seeds
Developing Innovations in School Cultivation Project, or DISC teaches children about growing traditional vegetables

Peanut sheller by Full Belly Project

Here's a You Tube video of a peanut sheller design being used in Uganda.  It's a part of the Full Belly Project http://thefullbellyproject.org/.  This could be very useful.  The organization suggests training before giving out the technology, and setting up a local business to produce them. (see the FAQ section).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Nut_Sheller

Water treatment and storage

another one for the file: Scandinavian water technologies http://www.scan-water.com/home.php

They make portable water treatment, storage and distribution systems.  the one that caught my eye, giant water beds (they call them pillow tanks), for storing potable water, one model for stationary storage, another to be loaded on a flatbed truck.

I've been looking at the pool in the back yard, and thinking that would be a cheap way to have a cistern/water storage tank... similar system could be used for irrigation water as well.

got there via this link

New Cassava Varieties

From the Worldwatch Institute, this article talks about some new varieties of cassava that have been developed in Zanzibar.  For those similarly geographically challenged, Zanzibar is an island in the Indian Ocean, just of the coast of Tanzania.  Apparently there have been some bad diseases affecting the cassava crops across Africa in the last few years, but these varieties are resistant.

Association for agriculture and rural development - Ghana

http://www.ecasard.org/

Africa: Just ask

Here's a well written article from Worldwatch Institute: Thinking Big by Starting Small. It talks about listening to farmers on the ground to find out what they need to provide food and a living for themselves.