FAO: 14 per cent of global food wasted
Reading Time: 2 minutesAROUND 14 per cent of global food goes to waste after harvesting and before reaching the retail level, including through on-farm activities, storage, and transportation. This is according to the report on the State of Food and Agriculture released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO monitored how much, where, […]
FDA nod for ultra low gossypol cotton for consumption
Reading Time: < 1 minuteTHE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an ultralow gossypol cottonseed, ULGCS, to be utilised as human food and animal feed. ULGCS is derived from a transgenic cotton variety TAM66274 developed by plant biotechnologist Keerti Rathore and his team at Texas A&M AgriLife Research. TAM66274 is a unique cotton plant with ultra-low gossypol […]
Soybean – The kingmaker in feed technology and animal nutrition
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Conference – a convergence of nutrition and biosecurity The conference saw a convergence of scientists, feed millers and formulators, animal nutritionists, veterinarians, quality control personnel and livestock producers. Avian Influenza (AI) and African Swine Flu (ASF) took centre stage at this conference as the latter is threatening farmers in Asian countries. So […]
Is Malaysia ready to face agri challenges through gene technologies?
Reading Time: 2 minutesIN RECENT months Malaysians have been experiencing a spike in vegetable prices, some more than 100 per cent. For an example, the price of tomatoes has gone up from RM3 per kg to RM6. Although there are multiple factors that influence price of food crops, one reason is the low farm production. Our golden crop, […]
The ‘new normal’ cometh
Reading Time: 3 minutesBiotech Crops continue to help meet the challenges of feeding increased global populations and mitigating climate change. TOKYO, JAPAN: A total of 70 countries adopted biotech crops through cultivation and importation in 2018 – the 23rd year of continuous biotech crop adoption, according to the Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops in 2018 (ISAAA Brief […]
Changing my community through science communication
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY HABIMANA JEAN CLAUDE IT IS Saturday morning in southern Rwanda. Nyiramana’s face is drenched in sweat as she plants maize in her two-acre family farm. She expects to make a decent profit this season given she got the seed at a bargain. A couple of weeks later, Nyiramana’s hope begins to dwindle. The rains […]
Would you eat GM food if you understood the science behind it?
Reading Time: 2 minutesJONATHAN MCPHETRES, a newly minted PhD in psychology from the University of Rochester, admits he’s “personally amazed” what we can do with genes, specifically genetically modified food — such as saving papayas from extinction. “We can makes crops better, more resilient, and more profitable and easier for farmers to grow, so that we can provide […]
Groot gets World Food Prize
Reading Time: 2 minutesDUTCH seed man Simon N Groot (pix) was awarded the World Food Prize Laureate. The announcement was made at a ceremony at the US Department of Agriculture on June 10. Groot won the award for empowering millions of smallholder farmers in more than 60 countries to earn greater incomes through enhanced vegetable production – benefitting […]
Three ways cities can help feed the world, without costing the Earth
Reading Time: 4 minutesCLIMATE CHANGE is under- way, and human activities such as urbanisation, industrialisation and food production are key contributors. Food production alone accounts for around 25% of global carbon emissions. Ironically, the changing weather patterns and more frequent extreme weather events resulting from climate change also put the world’s food supplies at risk. Food production drives […]
Under threat
Reading Time: 3 minutesROME: The first-ever report of its kind presents mounting and worrying evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the future of our food, livelihoods, health and environment under severe threat. Once lost, warns FAO’s State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report, launched today, biodiversity for food and agriculture – i.e. all the species that support our food systems and sustain […]