The "Edible wild orchid trade: sustaining livelihoods and biodiversity in Zambia" project, led by Dr Ruth Bone and Mr. Nicholas Wightman, members of the OSG-Global Trade Programme, has released its latest newsletter (July, 2018) here.
The project deals with a hugely under-studied form of orchid trade involving the harvest and use of starchy tubers of terrestrial orchids in several African countries to make chikanda cake.
Indiscriminate harvest is a threat to orchids in several genera, but is also important to the food security and livelihoods of poor rural women and girls in Zambia. This project is working to document orchid trade for chikanda, and to promote sustainable orchid harvest and cultivation to improve orchid conservation, rural livelihoods and security, and enhance local and national governance of wetland genetic/species diversity.