sustainable development – B4FA http://theb4fa.org Biosciences For Farming in Africa Tue, 17 Dec 2019 16:57:04 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 Focusing on smart agriculture across Africa http://theb4fa.org/focusing-on-smart-agriculture-across-africa/ http://theb4fa.org/focusing-on-smart-agriculture-across-africa/#respond Tue, 17 Dec 2019 16:57:01 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18370 The world is changing and one of the factors driving this change is climate change, which continues to affect the weather and the elements, such as rainfall and storms, among others. These changes affect basically everything that concerns man and his environment.

The impact of these changes is gradually being felt ...

The post Focusing on smart agriculture across Africa appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/focusing-on-smart-agriculture-across-africa/feed/ 0 A disappointing end to the COP25 climate talks http://theb4fa.org/a-disappointing-end-to-the-cop25-climate-talks/ http://theb4fa.org/a-disappointing-end-to-the-cop25-climate-talks/#respond Tue, 17 Dec 2019 16:45:10 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18364 The outcome of the two-week-long COP25 conference in Madrid with delegates from almost 200 nations was a partial agreement that asks countries to come up with more ambitious targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Despite some progress, world leaders failed to agree on more ambitious emissions cuts to meet the ...

The post A disappointing end to the COP25 climate talks appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/a-disappointing-end-to-the-cop25-climate-talks/feed/ 0 World food prices jump in November 2019 http://theb4fa.org/world-food-prices-jump-in-november-2019/ http://theb4fa.org/world-food-prices-jump-in-november-2019/#respond Thu, 12 Dec 2019 12:17:19 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18350 World food prices rose significantly in November, reaching their highest point in more than two years, driven by jumps in the international prices of meat products and vegetable oils.

The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly-traded food commodities, averaged 177.2 points over the ...

The post World food prices jump in November 2019 appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/world-food-prices-jump-in-november-2019/feed/ 0 Can African smallholders farm themselves out of poverty? http://theb4fa.org/can-african-smallholders-farm-themselves-out-of-poverty/ http://theb4fa.org/can-african-smallholders-farm-themselves-out-of-poverty/#respond Thu, 12 Dec 2019 12:07:01 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18347 A great deal of research on agriculture in Africa is organised around the premise that intensification can take smallholder farmers out of poverty. The emphasis in programming often focuses on technologies that increase farm productivity and management practices that go along with them. 

Yet the returns of such technologies are not ...

The post Can African smallholders farm themselves out of poverty? appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/can-african-smallholders-farm-themselves-out-of-poverty/feed/ 0 Podcast: How nitrogen-fixing bacteria can cut fertilizer use 30-50% http://theb4fa.org/podcast-how-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria-can-cut-fertilizer-use-30-50/ http://theb4fa.org/podcast-how-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria-can-cut-fertilizer-use-30-50/#respond Thu, 12 Dec 2019 12:01:57 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18342 In the early 20th century, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch revolutionized agriculture. The two German chemists developed a technique, now known as the Haber-Bosch process, that converts nitrogen from the air into ammonia, which can be used to fertilize the crops we all rely on for sustenance.  The discovery led to ...

The post Podcast: How nitrogen-fixing bacteria can cut fertilizer use 30-50% appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/podcast-how-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria-can-cut-fertilizer-use-30-50/feed/ 0 Building resilient agriculture through farmers’ education http://theb4fa.org/building-resilient-agriculture-through-farmers-education/ http://theb4fa.org/building-resilient-agriculture-through-farmers-education/#respond Wed, 11 Dec 2019 19:12:07 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18336 Agricultural experts and academia drawn from Eastern and Southern African nations called on governments to increase the reach, impact, and institutionalisation of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) through adaptive approaches to ensure that farmers in Africa are fully engaged in sustainable agricultural production and farming as a business.

At FAO’s Subregional Workshop ...

The post Building resilient agriculture through farmers’ education appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/building-resilient-agriculture-through-farmers-education/feed/ 0 Revolutionising precision agriculture with high-performance GPS+INS http://theb4fa.org/revolutionising-precision-agriculture-with-high-performance-gpsins/ http://theb4fa.org/revolutionising-precision-agriculture-with-high-performance-gpsins/#respond Fri, 06 Dec 2019 12:11:23 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18320 With the global population estimated to reach eight billion people by 2025, feeding the population while conserving the forest and wildlife reserves remains a growing challenge.

According to Septentrio, a global provider of positioning solutions for professional applications in industries such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, construction, marine, logistics and unmanned aerial ...

The post Revolutionising precision agriculture with high-performance GPS+INS appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/revolutionising-precision-agriculture-with-high-performance-gpsins/feed/ 0 Innovative solutions and business opportunities for farmer organisations http://theb4fa.org/innovative-solutions-and-business-opportunities-for-farmer-organisations/ http://theb4fa.org/innovative-solutions-and-business-opportunities-for-farmer-organisations/#respond Fri, 06 Dec 2019 12:05:36 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18317 Technological innovations and advances in digital farming continue to evolve at a rapid pace, increasing efficiencies in farming operations globally. However, the adoption of these new technologies by small-scale farmers is still low due to poor data infrastructure and a lack of business partnerships, limiting farmer organisations from capitalising on ...

The post Innovative solutions and business opportunities for farmer organisations appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/innovative-solutions-and-business-opportunities-for-farmer-organisations/feed/ 0 Soil erosion: lost livelihoods, lost incomes and lost food http://theb4fa.org/soil-erosion-lost-livelihoods-lost-incomes-and-lost-food/ http://theb4fa.org/soil-erosion-lost-livelihoods-lost-incomes-and-lost-food/#respond Fri, 06 Dec 2019 11:28:05 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18314 With more than 90 percent of the world’s food grown from soil, it’s a problem that impacts the health, incomes and livelihoods of billions of people on the planet.

Soil erosion – when the uppermost layer of soil is shifted or worn away – is a growing threat and one that has the potential ...

The post Soil erosion: lost livelihoods, lost incomes and lost food appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/soil-erosion-lost-livelihoods-lost-incomes-and-lost-food/feed/ 0 PODCAST: Wild plants help protect key food crops from climate change, disease http://theb4fa.org/podcast-wild-plants-help-protect-key-food-crops-from-climate-change-disease/ http://theb4fa.org/podcast-wild-plants-help-protect-key-food-crops-from-climate-change-disease/#respond Thu, 05 Dec 2019 18:01:37 +0000 http://theb4fa.org/?p=18303 Call it a tale of science and derring-do. An international team of researchers has spent six years fanning across the globe, gathering thousands of samples of wild relatives of crops. Their goal: to preserve genetic diversity that could help key crops survive in the face of climate change. At times, ...

The post PODCAST: Wild plants help protect key food crops from climate change, disease appeared first on B4FA.

]]> http://theb4fa.org/podcast-wild-plants-help-protect-key-food-crops-from-climate-change-disease/feed/ 0