India-IRRI engage in rice talks
Reading Time: 2 minutesLOS BANOS, PHILIPPINES: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Resilient Rice Field Laboratory (RRFL) at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) recently. While in the Philippines for the Asean Summit meetings, Modi spent time at the International Rice Research Institute discussing agriculture innovations and research advances for the rice sector. He met with several […]
Uganda parliament passes biotech law
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE long-awaited National Biosafety Act of 2017 has been an voted into law by the Parliament of Uganda recently. Biosafety Bill 2017, previously known as the Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill 2012, was passed into law on Wednesday, bringing an end to years of campaign and counter campaigns by supporters and opponents of biotechnology. The process […]
Movie review: ‘Food Evolution’
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY KEVIN FOLTA LAST year a Pew Research poll gauged public sentiment toward genetic engineering of food crops (familiarly, ‘GMO’). The results showed that while the public is consumed with fear and suspicion, scientists view the technology as safe and effective. This divide may be due to the deep presence of non-scientific websites, books and […]
Number of hungry people increases again, FAO
Reading Time: 2 minutesThe number of hungry people in the world has increased since 2015, reversing years of progress. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva told member states recently at the opening of the agency’s biennial conference. Graziano da Silva stressed that almost 60 per cent of the people […]
Feeding Asia: Region needs to up its game
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe FAO’s recent sobering report warned of the need to significantly increase investments in agriculture to meet the anticipated 50% increase in food demand by 2050. Asia as a net food and animal feed deficit region needs to up its game. PAUL TENG & CHRISTOPHER VAS comment. The latest report by the Food and Agriculture […]
From flask to field: How tiny microbes are revolutionising big agr
Reading Time: 5 minuteshttps://theconversation.com BY MATTHEW WALLENSTEIN, Associate Professor and Director, Innovation Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colorado State University Walk into your typical U.S. or U.K. grocery store and feast your eyes on an amazing bounty of fresh and processed foods. In most industrialised countries, it’s hard to imagine that food production is one of the greatest challenges […]
Food security looks very different depending on where you are sitting
Reading Time: 5 minutesIn 1974, the World Food Conference declared that: “Every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental faculties.” The conference set as its goal the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition within a decade. Two decades later, in 1996, the […]
Lettuce in February: The hidden cost of buying fresh vegetables all year round
Reading Time: 4 minutesBeginning with this issue we will be publishing articles on food security from THE CONVERSATION. We find these articles that come with academic rigour, but journalistic air appropriate to be presented as a series. We believe this series will bring awareness on the subject which is a critical global issue. We are indebted to THE […]
Rice-ing to achieve food security in Bangladesh
Reading Time: 2 minutesGAZIPUR, Dhaka: Bangladesh’s leading national rice research institute and the acclaimed International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) cemented their friendship recently with the reopening of the BRRI-IRRI Friendship Centre in Gazipur on Jan 16. Coined the ”Friendship Centre” during a recent meeting between IRRI Deputy-Director General, Jackie Hughes and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Director General […]