Agric & Biotech

World food prices declined in November to their lowest level in over two years, led down by much weaker vegetable oil, dairy and cereal prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday, December 6, 2018. The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged ...

Ghana’s forestry sector is noted for several things, key among which is the different kinds of debates it generates from time to time. For instance, in the 1990s to the early 2000, the debate revolved around the timber industry’s seemingly hijack of the sector. From 2000 on, the debate dwelt on the lack of transparency, representation and consultation in the ...

Innovation and investments worth trillions of dollars in landscape restoration, climate adaptation and science-based policy advice will be needed if the global community is to meet the escalating threats posed by climate change. To meet these demands, the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), also known as World Agroforestry, the two leading organisations focused on ...

The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) has called for community policing to assist the council get rid of adulterated and fake seeds in the market. Dr Philip Ojo, the Director-General, NASC, made the call on Thursday, November 29, 2018 during the NASC Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) meeting at the council’s headquarters, Sheda, Gwagwalada (FCT). “The business of getting rid of ...

Landmark Convention on Biological Diversity decision calls on governments to conduct strict risk assessments and seek indigenous and local peoples’ consent ahead of potential release of “exterminator” technology The UN on Thursday, November 29, 2018 made a significant global decision on how to govern a presumably high-risk new genetic engineering technology – gene drives. A gene drive is a genetic ...

As the annual day approaches for honouring Ghanaian farmers, one of Ghana’s serial award winners in the farming business and the 2009 National Best Farmer is exceedingly excited. His excitement is not because he will be receiving another award at the national ceremony, which will take place in Tamale, Northern region, on Friday December 7, 2018. Davis Narh Korboe, popularly ...

Chinese authorities on Thursday, November 29, 2018 ordered suspending research activities of persons involved in the gene-edited babies’ incident, denouncing the matter as “extremely abominable in nature” and in violation of Chinese laws and science ethics. The gene-edited twins matter reported by the media has brazenly violated Chinese laws and regulations and breached the science ethics bottom line, which is ...

An expert on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) from India has told a UN conference on biodiversity that GMO cotton growing is not causing of deaths in the country. Bhagirath Choudhary, founder director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre, said that the cotton variety has nothing to do with suicide cases in the country. “The deaths are as a result of social ...

Poisonous chemicals will no longer be used for the preservation of food, particularly seedlings, with the development of bioinsecticides, the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) has said. Bioinsecticides are organic substances harmless to man the environment, regarded by scientists as safe alternatives to Snipper as a crop insecticide. The bioinsecticides are being produced by BioCrops Biotechnology Company Ltd, an indigenous company. ...

Delegates at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Thursday, November 22, 2018 at a side event celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Participants at the gathering, among other functions, explored key successes achieved under the Biosafety Protocol. Ulrika Nilsson of the CBD Secretariat, who opened the ...