Category Archives: Agriculture

Cuisine and Crops in Central Africa – Colonial and Contemporary – Pt. 3

Posted on 23/08/2014 by dianabuja

Cuisine before Colonization: What did local people eat, prior to the introduction of New World crops?  I ask this, because from the prior blog on Cuisine and Crops in Central Africa,  it is primarily New World crops that were mentioned … Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa-General, Agriculture, Colonialism, Cuisine, History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Botanical – Brews

Posted on 21/07/2014 by dianabuja

An interesting blog on botanical brews from Diane O’Donovan and her excellent writeups on the Voynich manuscript. I’d completely forgotten the exchange that we had on botanical brews – as discussed by me here – https://dianabuja.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/banana-beer-and-other-fermented-drinks-in-africa/. Diane carries out the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa-General, Agriculture, Beer, Botany, Europe - medieval | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Intercropping in upland Burundi, central Africa

Posted on 01/05/2014 by dianabuja

Intercropping in upland Burundi. Banana, manioc, maize, amaranth, etc, are regularly intercropped by smallholders.  This is a traditional method of augmenting soil fertility and porosity, and of assuring seasonally appropriate crops. As well, problems of  brief, radical climate shifts are … Continue reading →

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Posted in Agriculture, Botany, Burundi, Climate Change, Food Security, Indigenous crops & medicinal plants, Research and Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Sahelian City-States in the Western Sahel: Part 2

Posted on 24/01/2014 by dianabuja

Recent and ongoing events in the Sahel by way of food crises, religiously based conflict, ethnically based conflict, and military coups are intertwined.  They are the most recent iterations of  interdependent political, economic, religious, social, and cultural changes that have … Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa-North, Africa-West, Agriculture, Arab traders, Caravan routes, Colonialism, Ethnicity, History, Ivory, Niger River, Religion, Sahel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Notes on Dairy Goats and Artisan Cheese Production in Central Africa

Posted on 18/07/2013 by dianabuja

Dairy Animals & Traditional Dairy Production in Central Africa –A Brief Background Cattle and goats are important components of small farm agriculture in Burundi, Rwanda and the eastern Congo.  Agriculturalists were the first migrants into the area, many hundreds of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa-Central, Agriculture, Burundi, Cuisine, European colonizers, Food, Goat farmer, History, History-Recent, Hotel Club du Lac Tanganyika2, Livestock, Living here, Pastoralism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Helping the most vulnerable farmers adapt to climate change – lessons from a Farm Africa project

Posted on 09/07/2013 by dianabuja

See on – Africa and Beyond By Jonathan Finnighan Helping the most vulnerable farmers adapt to climate change – lessons from a Farm Africa project The first thing that strikes me about Mwangangi’s farm is that it looks abando… …The … Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa-General, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Climate Change, Development, Humanitarian Assistance, Livestock, Research & Development, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Long Dry Season Comes to Central Africa

Posted on 07/07/2013 by dianabuja

Our weather consists of two seasons: Rainy and Dry.  The latter, beginning in late June, lasts about three months, and the rainy season the rest of the year.  Well, there is also quite a short dry-ish season in December-January. Here … Continue reading →

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Posted in Africa-Central, Agriculture, Crop harvests, Goats, Imbo Plain, Lake Tanganyika, Living here | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment