Agric & Biotech

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) says eight million farmers will benefit from its 16,000 Geo-Clusters Scheme across the country. Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, the Managing Director of NIRSAL, made this known in his presentation at the 61st session of Greeners Hub B2B Nigeria in Abuja on Sunday, January 12, 2020. NIRSAL has mandate to redefine, measure, ...

The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) says the Federal Government has approved two modern biotechnology crops – BT cotton and cowpea (beans) for commercialisation in the country. Cowpea Dr Rosa Gidado, the Deputy Director, Agricultural Biotech Department, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Abuja, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, January 10, 2020 in Lagos. Commercialisation is the process ...

The need to boost food production for Nigeria be self-sufficient and improve its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) cannot be over emphasised. GMOs The country has been facing some form of food insecurity due to the effects of insurgency in the Northeast and some natural disasters such as flooding and drought as a result of climate change. Recently, the story is ...

The Director-General, National Biosafety Ma­nagement Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, has urged Nigerians to trust the Federal Gover­nment’s adoption of gen­etically modified organisms (GMOs) that have be­en certified safe by the agency. Director-General, National Biosafety Ma¬nagement Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba Ebegba said this during the End of Year Media Chat organised by the agency in Abuja on Thursday, December ...

The commercialisation of genetically modified (GM) beans has been celebrated by the purveyors and promoters of the artificial variety. The Pod Borer-Resistant Cowpea (PBR-Cowpea) also known as Vigna unguiculata is modified to express the Cry1Ab protein expected to “confer protection from certain lepidopteran insect pests of cowpea, principally the pod borer (Maruca vitrata Fabricius).” Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother ...

Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has said the country will experiment with an imported genetically altered breed of mosquito designed to make female dengue mosquitoes sterile, local media reports said on Tuesday, December 17, 2019. Sri Lanka wants to import genetically modified mosquitoes to combat the rising dengue virus President Rajapaksa, speaking to newspaper editors, said that the importation was ...

The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved registration and release of a new Pod Borer Resistant (PBR) Cowpea variety for commercialisation. Cowpea The approval was granted by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties, chaired by Mr. Oladosu Awoyemi, at its 28th meeting which held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on December 12, 2019. The new cowpea ...

The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) is extremely alarmed to learn that three genetically modified maize varieties developed by Corteva (new name of the Dow-DuPont merged entity) to withstand the application of the dangerous 2,4-D herbicide have been approved for general release by the Executive Council: GMO Act. ACB said it poses a threat to the health of food consumers, ...

The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has called on the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to revoke the permits granted for the water efficient maize for Africa (WEMA) project in Nigeria as, according to the civil society organisation (CSO), the maize event (MON87460) has reportedly proven to be a failure in other countries. Genetically modified maize HOMEF made the ...

Friends of the Earth Africa (FoEA) participants attending a two-day strategy meeting on Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and industrial Plantation expansion in Lome, Togo have concluded that the certification of industrial oil palm plantation companies by the RSPO may not be the appropriate solution to the climate crisis. A palm oil plantation At the conclusion of the meeting, ...