Agric & Biotech

India’s abysmal management of pesticides has started taking a deadly toll, according to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Over 35 farmers have reportedly died and hundreds have become ill due to pesticide poisoning in several districts of Vidharba region in Maharashtra, since July 2017. These incidents have been reported from the districts of Yavatmal, Nagpur, Akola and Amravati ...

Herdsmen and farmers in Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State have signed a peace agreement to stop clashes among them. Alhaji Abdullahi Babayo, Director-General of Nomadic Affairs Agency in the state, disclosed this in a statement issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna, the state capital, on Wednesday, September 18, 2017. Babayo said the aim of ...

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State says the state government is partnering with farmers in the state to commence export of plantain and garri flour to the United Kingdom. The governor, who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Tam Brisibe, stated this on Monday, October 16, 2017 at an occasion to mark the World Food Day in Asaba, ...

The Lagos State Government on Monday, October 16, 2017 promised to support 1,140 farmers in the state with farm inputs and open up the rural road to improve food production. Gov. Akinwumi Ambode said this at a celebration to mark the World Food Day with the theme: “Change the Future of Migration: Investing in Food Security and Rural Development” in ...

The Bill and Melinda Gates funded Synergos for the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA) programme in Benue State has advocated for food security and nutrition sensitive agriculture in the state. Making this known on Monday, October 16, 2017 at a “Multi Stakeholder Level Dialogue on Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture: Marking the World Food Day in Benue” organised by Synergos in Makurdi, ...

“Now that we have a law in place, drought and diseases will become history as we will be able to apply modern technology backed by research for better yields,” this is the kind of excitement Joseph Katushabe, a farmer in Ibanda district in western Uganda, expressed upon hearing that Parliament passed the National Biotechnology and Biosafety (NBB) Bill, 2012. The ...

The Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba, has assured Nigerians that the agency will continue to work to ensure the safety of Nigerians with regards to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Dr. Ebegba, who said this while receiving the Mallam Aminu Kano Award of Excellence bestowed on him by the Northern Youth Anti-Corruption Ambassadors of Nigeria in ...

Stakeholders in the agriculture and health sectors of the Nigerian economy have canvassed for the fortification of micronutrients in staple foods to stem the ugly effect of hidden hunger. They made the call on Tuesday, October 10, 2017 during the maiden international conference on Food Security and Hidden Hunger organised by the Faculty of Agriculture, Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), ...

A Soil Association report has revealed how genetically modified (GM) cotton grew to almost obliterate all other cotton production in India, and how the promised GM success rapidly turned to failure, with disastrous, even lethal, results for some of the world’s poorest farmers. The report, launched at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Washington D.C., reveals how alternative, more sustainable ...

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has upheld a complaint by Forest Peoples Programme against logging company PT Kemakmuran Berkah Timber (PT KBT). The FSC-certified company has been operating on the lands of the indigenous Dayak Bahau community in the Upper Mahakam in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, without their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for the past three years. Despite the FSC’S ...