Fall Armyworm keeps spreading and becomes more destructive
Reading Time: 3 minutesFALL Armyworm keeps spreading to larger areas within countries in sub-Saharan Africa and becomes more destructive as it feeds on more crops and different parts of crops, increasingly growing an appetite for sorghum and millet, in addition to maize. The pest could spread to Northern Africa, Southern Europe and the Near East, warned the United […]
ISAAA: The ‘green’ way forward with biotech crops
Reading Time: 3 minutesBIOTECH CROPS offer enormous benefits to the environment as well as contribute to the enhancement of both, human and animal health. They also largely contribute to improving and upgrading the socioeconomic status of famers and crop producers everywhere, and more so in third world countries in Africa and Asia. This was the take home message […]
Golden Rice meets food safety standard
Reading Time: 2 minutesLOS BANOS, PHILIPPINES: GR2E Golden Rice, a provitamin A biofortified rice variety, completed its third positive food safety evaluation, this time from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). In an official response received by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on May 24, the US FDA concurred with IRRI’s assessment regarding the […]
Zero-waste palm oil industry on the horizon with new technology
Reading Time: 3 minutesENGINEERS at The University of Nottingham Malaysia have developed new technology to help the global palm oil processing industry reduce CO2 emissions and create renewable energy from its waste. Malaysia is the second-largest crude palm oil producer in the world and fulfils nearly half of all demand for the oil, which is now used in […]
Gene boosts rice growth, yield in salty soil
Reading Time: 2 minutesIN A NEW study published in The Plant Cell, a team of researchers identified a gene that limits yield losses in rice plants exposed to salt stress and deciphered the underlying mechanism. Around 20% of the world’s irrigated land is considered to contain elevated concentrations of salt, and the soil continues to get saltier as […]
Inclusive bioeconomy
Reading Time: 2 minutesFAO calls for a bioeconomy that does not leave anyone behind BERLIN: If done right, in particular with and for family farmers, bioeconomy can help efforts to tackle pressing global problems such as hunger, poverty and climate change. This was the message FAO Deputy Director-General Climate and Natural Resources, Maria Helena Semedo delivered recently at […]
Scaling sustainable rice farming practices to achieve food security in Asia
Reading Time: 3 minutesJAKARTA, Indonesia: Experts gathering at the 5th Responsible Business Forum (RBF) on Food and Agriculture have stressed the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration to upscale the sharing of proven best practices in sustainable rice production among Asia’s smallholder rice farmers. The event, held on March 27-28 under the theme “Scaling Collaboration to Deliver the Sustainable Development […]
Malaysia’s sweet potato expert gives her take
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Petri Dish (PD) recently interviewed Dr Tan Swee Lian, a former plant breeder with the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) for 37 years. During this time, she worked mainly on cassava and the sweet potato crops. Through her research initiative MARDI came up with some fascinating cassava and sweet potato varieties. PD: […]
How fungi make nutrients available to the world
Reading Time: 7 minutesScientists are researching fungi’s essential role in decomposition, particularly breaking down cell walls in wood LIKE most of us, trees don’t want to be eaten alive. To prevent this gruesome fate, they developed extremely tough cell walls around 400 million years ago. For millions of years, nothing could break down lignin, the strongest substance in […]
Why ozone levels pose a challenge to food security
Reading Time: 4 minutesBY DIVYA PANDEY Research Associate, Stockholm Environment Institute, York, AXA Research Fun LISA EMBERSON SEI York Centre Director, University of York SOFIE MORTENSEN Research Associate, Stockholm Environment Institute OZONE is a well-known and interesting gas. It is thought of as a “good” gas when present in the stratosphere, where it forms the ozone layer sitting […]