A United Nation soil scientist on Tuesday called on African countries to increase their budgetary allocations to purchase soil research equipment that could help improve food productivity.
Daniel Pennock, the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said timely research is …
Soil management offers huge potential for keeping carbon emissions in the ground
Soil management doesn’t sound snazzy, but scientists say it offers huge potential for keeping carbon emissions in the ground—and out of the atmosphere.
A paper published this week in the journal Scientific Reports estimates that improved land-use practices could increase …
“The future of agriculture is not input-intensive, but knowledge-intensive. This is the new paradigm,” says FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva
Food production increased over the last decades, but at a high cost to the environment, generating deforestation, water scarcity, soil depletion and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, he …
Can farmers improve their income and well-being through effective collective action? Join the course and take home many practical tools and approaches for promoting farmer intrepreneurship and strengthening famers’ organisations that aim to arrive at farmer-inclusive agribusiness development. Read more …
Can Africa’s biggest economy swap its addiction to oil for the starchy tubers that millions line their bellies with each day?
“It’s our biggest hope,” says Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh.
The global slump in oil prices has hit the West African nation hard, where oil exports make …
Richard Opio dipped a dirt-stained hand into the pinkish beans, marveling at the dramatic changes they’ve made for his family. They used to harvest two sacks of normal beans; now they take in six.
The so-called “super bean,” a fast-maturing, high-yield variety, is being promoted by Uganda’s government and agriculture experts …
Genetic modification of food crops is, depending on your point of view, a wondrous technological solution to feed a growing global population or a hubris-soaked scientific monstrosity sowing the seeds of environmental apocalypse.
Yet the war over GM crops, though intense, has so far been restricted to a small number of …
In sub-Saharan Africa good progress was made in reducing hunger until 2010, after which time the decline in the prevalence of undernourishment came to a halt and then rose to 22.7 percent in 2016, while the number of undernourished rose to 224.3 million. In many countries, the worsening situation in …
To domesticate and address the concerns about the safety of GMOs, the Federal Government has established the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST) and the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA).
The NBMA was established by the National Biosafety Management Agency Act 2015, to …
How can Africa leapfrog its development to match the world average? This question has been dogging many in the developmental spheres; and has been dwelt with recently by the Investing in Africa Forum (IAF).
IAF is an initiative set up as a global platform for multilateral cooperation and promoting opportunities to …