Agric & Biotech

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, ...

European Union (EU) member states decided on Friday, December 6, 2019 to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide deemed harmful to human health. Spraying chlorpyrifos The ban is due to take effect in January, when the current approval for the insecticide expires. In August, the European Food Safety Authority identified concerns about “possible genotoxic effects as well as neurological effects during development,” ...

The Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, has said that that the agency is well equipped to ensure the proper regulation of modern biotechnology in the country. Participants at the 5th National Biosafety Conference in Keffi, Nasarawa State Dr Ebegba, who spoke at the 5th National Biosafety Conference on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 in Keffi, Nasarawa ...

Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, in a presentation at a Media Training on Promoting Nigeria’s Biosafety in Lagos on Tuesday, November 26, 2019, underlined the need for scientists, government officials and activists to keep an eye on the new extreme variants of GMOs, which he says try to upturn nature, are prone to being weaponised and ...

Scientists at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 launched a research on biological control of papaya mealybug in Kenya. Papaya mealybug invasion The scientists, together with partners, are out to find a natural enemy to the fight against invasive papaya mealybug pest that is scientifically known as paracoccus marginatus. “We are keen at ...

The Nigeria Farmers Group and Cooperative Society (NFGCS) says plans have reached advanced stage to train herders on greenhouse to manage its 10,000-capacity ranch currently under construction at Gaate, Nasarawa State. Planting grass without sand in hyrophonic or greenhouse Mr Tedheke Retson, the National Coordinator, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, ...

“Do we want to work in harmony with the laws of nature, or continue with the violence against the earth by eating food produced in laboratories and from an increasingly artificial agriculture? We want food which comes from an agriculture that cares for the earth, which provides the solution to the ecological climate and health crises.” Delegates at the Navdanya International book ...

 A staple to about 350 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, cassava, had been declared in 2003 by African Heads of State as a poverty fighter. However, the crop is yet to prove its mettle as millions of growers in sub-Saharan Africa who depend on it for their livelihoods still live below the poverty line. Yellow cassava sensitisation in Benin Republic ...

A rice farmer, Chief Silver Ejezie, says about 300 hectares of rice farms at Omeligboma, Oko in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State were washed away by this year’s flood. A flooded farm The farmer, who lamented the situation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 in Asaba, said it was ...

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Monday, November 11, 2019 said the state government had concluded plans to open up about some 100,000 hectares of land for oil palm investors in the state. Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State Obaseki made this known during the 2019 Alaghodaro Youth Summit held in Benin City, the state capital, to mark his ...