Agric & Biotech

The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has affirmed its commitment to ensuring global best practices in the supply of seeds to farmers to spur Nigeria’s economic diversification efforts through agriculture. The Director-General of NASC, Dr Philip Ojo, conveyed the commitment on Wednesday in Abuja during a road walk organised to create awareness on the benefits of using quality improved seeds ...

Kenya and her East African neighbours have been identified as the epicentre of Quelea birds’ attack on key staples hence putting their food security initiatives in jeopardy. Scientists affiliated with Desert Locust Organisation for Eastern Africa (DLCO) on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 said that the East and Horn of Africa states affected by invasion of Quelea birds on farms could ...

About 100 farmers from various communities in Edo State on Friday, September 21, 2018 gathered in the conference hall of Girls Power Initiative (GPI), Ugbiyoko Community in Benin City for a one-day dialogue on food and farming systems organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF). The dialogue provided a platform for examining the challenges facing agricultural production and the ...

The Health of Mother earth Foundation (HOMEF) and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) have pledged to work with the media to increase awareness of the public on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Nnimmo Bassey, Director, HOMEF and Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, Chairperson, AFSA made the submission in a statement issued at the close of a Media Training on Promotion of ...

COPAGEN Mali, a member organisation of the West African Global Convergence for Land, Water and Seeds, is frowning at an apparent plan by the Malian authorities to authorise test for genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the country. Under the nation’s “Target Malaria” project, which COPAGEN Mali claims is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Biosafety ...

Scientific evidence abounds to changes the food chain has been going through from time immemorial. History tells us that initially our forebearers were hunters and gatherers, totally dependent on nature. Somehow, they figured out the need for domesticating crops, through saving seeds and cultivation. Seeds were selected and saved based on features such as faster growth, higher yields, pest and ...

An agriculture expert, Mr Ismail Olawale, has called on local farmers to adopt greenhouse farming to boost food security in the country. Olawale told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, September 27, 2018 in Lagos that the benefits of farming were enormous. Greenhouse farming is an alternative method of farming where plants are cultivated in environmentally controlled structures ...

The fight against the spread of the Fall armyworm in Africa in general and the west and central Africa in particular has moved from the level of planning to concrete action, development and research organisations in the continent have said. Meeting at a high-level conference on controlling Fall armyworm in west and central Africa in Yaoundé, Cameroon, the different stakeholders agreed ...

In his welcome words at a Media Training on Promoting Biosafety in Nigeria held on Tuesday, September 25, 2018 in Abuja, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, expresses concern over the state of biosafety in the country At a recent HOMEF dialogue with farmers, most of the participants declared that they have never heard of anything called ...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) will be investing $24 billion in the African agriculture over the next 10 years to lift one billion people out of hunger globally. Dr Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB President, who disclosed this on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at an agriculture conference at Purdue University, Indianapolis, challenged global partners to join hands to lift one billion people ...