Economic Botany: Applied Plant Biology
Waycott, Michelle , Ryder, Maarten , Walsh, Fiona , Douglas, Josephine , Cunningham, Tony , Robson, Heather .
Akatyerr-bush tomato-desert raisin: a bush food in desert Australia, towards improved opportunities for desert communities.
Critical to developing economic opportunities for people living in desert environments is the recognition of traditional uses of native plant species in local environments. The Aboriginal peoples of desert Australia have an ancient history of harvesting bush foods for surviving in these harsh environments. These harvesting activities continue today and increasing interest in utilising traditional foods globally has created an international market for bush foods such as Solanum species from desert Australia. Aboriginal people continue to harvest Akatyerr as a seasonal food and as a product for sale to external markets. Current demand is greater than supply however and efforts are being made to undertake domestication of Solanum centrale as well as enhancing opportunities for Aboriginal harvesters. The multidisciplinary Desert Knowledge CRC project underway has improved knowledge of the ethnobotanical, ecological, genetic and commercial potential of this species with an aim to improve livelihoods for Australian desert peoples through new opportunities.
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Desert knowledge Cooperative Research Centre -bush foods project
1 - James Cook University, School of Tropical Biology, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia
2 - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Sustainable Ecosystems, Postal Mail Bag 2, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia
3 - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Centre for Arid Zone Research, Post Office Box 2111, Alice Springs, NT, 0871, Australia
4 - Charles Darwin University, Institute of Advanced Studies, Alice Springs Campus, Post Office Box 795, Alice Springs, NT, 0871, Australia
5 - Charles Darwin University, Institute for Advanced Studies, Darwin, Darwin, NT, 0909, Australia
6 - James Cook University, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, Douglas campus, Townsville, Qld, 4811, Australia
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Location: Lake Huron/Hilton
Date: Monday, July 9th, 2007
Time: 10:15 AM