Guinea pig touted as solution to Congo food crisis
Date: 02/03/2010
Introduction:
A South American research group says it may have found another way to fill hungry bellies: with guinea pigs. The small rodents could provide war-battered villages with "a much-needed source of protein and micro-nutrients in a country with some of the highest incidences of malnutrition the world," according to the Colombia-based agricultural research institute, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, or CIAT. CIAT scientists have been investigating ways to boost livestock production through a project funded by the German government which had originally targeted pork and poultry. It has now been expanded to include guinea pigs, with trials underway in four South Kivu villages to try to find ways to improve the quantity and quality of the meat. (Source: African Agriculture, 16 February 2010)
