Agric & Biotech

A set of four high-yielding hybrid rice varieties with appreciable grain quality have elicited interest from key stakeholders, especially seed companies and farmers. The rice varieties The rice varieties were showcased during field days held recently at AfricaRice research station in M’bé, Côte d’Ivoire. The field days to showcase the performance of the hybrids were organized by the Rice Compact ...

Coffee consumption in Nigeria increased by more than 20% between 2010 and 2015 and it is expected that Nigerians will consume more than 1,000 tons of coffee in 2020. Despite the upward trend in coffee consumption, production in the country remains low. Removing barriers to coffee production is key to sustainable farming and production that will not only create decent livelihoods, but also generate ...

Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 in a case in which one of the defendants sought to challenge a High Court ruling on the court’s jurisdiction to hear a petition brought before it by FSG and three others. Front row L-R: Ras Zewu, Edwin Baffour, George Tetteh Wayoe, Samia Yaba Nkrumah, and ...

Zambia’s regulator of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) on Tuesday, July 9, 2019 announced it has allowed some companies to import products containing GMOs, despite resistance from some stakeholders. GMOs Paul Zambezi, Chairperson of the National Bio-Safety Authority (NBA), said four firms have been granted permits to import products containing GMOs. He said the decision was made following a risk assessment ...

The National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) says it will not allow any unsafe genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that will affect human health and the environment into the country. L-R: DG/CEO of NBMA, Dr. Rufus Ebegba and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Dr. Muhammed Bello Umar, signing the MoU Dr Rufus Egbeba, the agency’s Director-General, gave the ...

A group of civil society organisations (CSOs) from Africa and around the world has denounced the release of genetically modified (GM) “male-sterile” mosquitoes in Burkina Faso. The GM mosquitoes were released in the village of Bana on Monday July 1, 2019 by the Target Malaria research consortium. Genetically modified mosquitoe The open release is intended to test the infrastructure and ...

Climate change and rising temperatures is expected to continue over time. The extent of the change depends primarily on the amount of heat-trapping gases emitted and how the earth reacts to the situation, scientists say. GMOs With a projected population of more than nine billion by 2050, Nigeria currently with 200 million people is projected to be the world’s third ...

 The Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba, has emerged as the interim Chairman of the newly established African Union Biosafety Regulators Forum. Dr Rufus Ebegba Ebegba’s emergence was part of the resolutions reached at the end of a training organised by the African Union and African Union Development Agency, NEPAD, on genome edition and the post ...

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), the GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance and 43 other civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to reject the application by the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike for field trial of cassava, genetically modified to express elevated levels of Iron and Zinc in the storage roots and high resistance to ...

As part of the plan to ensure food security across Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday, June 19, 2019 launched the Maize Compact of the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) in Maputo, Mozambique. AFDB president, Akinwunmi Adesina The launch forms part of the AfDB plan to scale out water-efficient and climate smart Maize technologies in 14 African ...