B4FA Week in Review – 14 February 2019

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B4FA Week in Review – 14 February 2019

February 14th, 2019 / B4FA

THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

This week we feature two stories emerging from Ethiopia. First the country recently won patent rights at The Court of The Hague for products made from teff, an ancient grain native to Ethiopia and which is its staple food. The patent will allow Ethiopia to supply teff to Europe, supporting farmers. The victory comes after a dispute with Dutch company Health and Performance Food International (HPFI), which registered patent rights for teff products in the Netherlands, Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria. Winning the patent rights back will allow Ethiopia to sell its teff products to Europe unhindered. Ethiopian diplomat Fitsum Arega, currently the Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States, commented, “I hope we can learn from this that our national assets must be protected by Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia.”

Ethiopia has also increased its adoption of improved chickpea varieties more than twofold in seven years, reports a post from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). A study published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability states that the percentage of smallholder farmers growing improved chickpea varieties grew from 30 to 80 percent. The study argues that smallholder farmers will only adopt innovations if they offer significant benefit. “In the end, only innovations that clearly outperform locally available technologies and manifest limited downside risks are likely to be adopted on a large scale,” it says.

In the United States an international team of researchers has successfully genetically modified cassava to contain high levels of iron and zinc – “up to 50% of the dietary requirement for iron and up to 70% for zinc in children aged 1 to 6 years” according to a report in the American Council on Science and Health. The hope is that this development will help provide substantial nutrition boost for people who rely on the root as their staple food.

From the B4FA Fellows, we hear from Daily Monitor regular contributors Lominda Afedraru, who writes about controlling banana viruses on farm, and Michael Ssali, who considers the need for good post-harvest practices.

We welcome questions, comments and story links to [email protected]. Please also visit B4FA.org for further reading and useful resources – and follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with daily news and join the conversation.

Headlines

Two-fold increase in varietal adoption in seven years – a chickpea tale from Ethiopia
ICRISAT

The Ethiopian government is celebrating a major victory in a long-running dispute over who owns the patent for products made from teff
AllAfrica

GMO cassava can provide iron, zinc to malnourished African children
ACSH

Growth of Uganda’s seed sector exposes major anti-GMO claims
Alliance for Science

AgBio news

Nigerian agriculture embraces the future
Global Farmer Network

New GMO cotton variety could boost yields while thriving under drought conditions
Genetic Literacy Project

How Bt cotton can revive collapsed textile industry
Daily Nation

Speed breeding isn’t a new concept but it could be crucial to ramping up food production in Europe in the light of recent rulings on gene editing…
Lab News

CRISPR gene editing: Using ‘nature’s own tools’ to combat food waste and climate change
Genetic Literacy Project

The new potato – breeders seek a breakthrough to help farmers facing an uncertain future
Science Magazine