On Friday 16 October, the world celebrated the 36th World Food Day – an annual event that aims to mobilize action around hunger in the world’s most vulnerable populations. Coming on the heels of the United Nations’ adoption of the new Sustainable Development Goals, World Food Day focused even more global attention on the …
A new paper published in PLOS ONE this week presents new analyses of 12 cassava brown streak virus genome sequences. In this new research, 12 new whole genomes were uncovered, doubling the genomic sequences available in the public domain for these viruses and giving rise to the possibility that there may be …
Last week, 193 member states formally adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new road map for tackling poverty, inequality and climate change that replaces the Millennium Development Goals, which expire this year. The second SDG aims to abolish hunger and achieve food security while promoting sustainable agriculture, putting these issues front …
Maize takes the stage in African biotech news this week. Nigerian researchers have just released two new maize hybrids, according to an article by B4FA Fellow Jimoh Babatunde. The hybrids, which came out of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ibadan, mature early – a …
This week in biotech news, Professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard Kennedy School Calestous Juma writes about the pest-resistant maize variety that Kenya is about to introduce. “It is estimated that the spotted stem borer and the African stem borer reduce Kenya’s maize crop by 13 per …
The focus of this week’s very wide range of stories: the power of data.
Agriculture for Impact has released an online database on Sustainable Intensification in African agriculture. The database offers information on innovation and practices in the fields of ecology, genetics and socio-economics to build environmentally and socially sustainable agriculture. …
This week, we lead with a feature asking how we will be able to feed the 9 billion people likely to populate the world by 2050 while showing what percentage of household income is currently spent on food. There are big differences around the world, and this article also questions whether cheap food and …
A very full week for biotech news, led by Nina Federoffformer adviser to the US Secretary of State defining genetic modification (GM) as the most critical technology in agriculture for meeting the challenges of feeding a growing global population and an interview with Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Laureate, whose new varieties of …
Kenya continues to lead Africa’s biotech news this week, as the nation responds to Deputy President William Ruto’s recent proclamation that the Kenyan government would soon lift the ban on GM. Kenyan parliamentarians have assured scientists of their support for biotechresearch after touring various agri-biotechnology research facilities during a biotechnology travelling workshop in Nairobi. Meanwhile, Kenyan biotechnology …
This week has seen a report on US scientists are working to develop faster or more complete methods to test for mycotoxins in feed crops as a way to increase feed safety and animal performance – mycotoxins have a direct impact on animal particularly gastrointestinal health. Then there is a piece from …
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