Agric & Biotech

Global companies – including Colgate Palmolive, L’Oréal, McDonald’s Corporation and Marks & Spencer – report in a new study released on Monday, December 5, 2016 that, on average, nearly a quarter (24%) of their revenues depend upon four deforestation-linked commodities: cattle products, palm oil, soy and timber products. As much as $906 billion in annual turnover could be at risk. The report by CDP ...

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has declared that Benue, being an agricultural state, is particularly interested in the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) assisted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Federal Government. According to the governor, who made the disclosure on Thursday, November 1, 2016 in his office in Makurdi while playing host to the ...

With Germany announcing its support for the Bonn Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), Nigeria and other African countries have been urged to properly coordinate all landscaping efforts in their countries to achieve the desired goal. This call came from speakers and participants during a side event hosted by NEPAD at the UN climate change summit (COP22) that ended last Friday in ...

Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Sir (Dr.) Rufus Ebegba, speaks with Etta Michael Bisong about the challeges being encountered by the agency in the development of the sector, saying that teething problems are being overcome and Nigerians are increasingly becoming aware of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) Achievement of the NBMA since establishment You know the agency was established ...

Agricultural experts and leaders from all over the world have developed an ambitious plan to transform global agriculture, while responding to the challenge of climate change and real threats to the production of the planet’s major crops in a hotter world. This is an outcome of a recent roundtable interaction held in Nairobi, Kenya seeking to create a roadmap that ...

The African Union Commission’s implementing Agency, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), has said that strong political will is a key ingredient to pushing the continent’s agriculture agenda at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiating table. In line with Africa’s theme at COP 22, “Africa in Action”, NEPAD Director of Programmes, Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, said high level ...

The Benue State Programme Coordinator, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP), Emmanuel Igbaukum, has expressed optimism that the project will aid the Federal Government of Nigeria to attain its 2018 projection to stop rice importation and enhance conservation of foreign exchange. The SPC, who spoke on Friday (4th November, 2016) while fielding questions from journalists at the ...

The Second National Biosafety Conference in Nigeria scheduled to hold between 10th and 11th November, 2016 in Abuja, the federal capital city, will address the twin objectives of food security and economic growth. Organised by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) in collaboration of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the theme of this year’s conference is “Biosafety, Food Security ...

Recently, a very misleading press statement was released. The heading was titled “GMO foods: FG may shut Shoprite, Next superstores”. The opening paragraph read as follows: “The Federal Government, through its National Biosafety Management Agency, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to retail store giants, Shoprite and Next Cash ‘N’ Carry to withdraw any product that contains Genetically Modified Organisms from ...

A new research has found that continued biodiversity loss would result in an accelerating decline in forest productivity worldwide. The research, published on 14 October 2016 in the journal Science, is the output of a team of scholars from 90 institutions around the world coordinated by Jingjing Liang (lead author), Peter B. Reich and Thomas W. Crowther, and includes CIFOR’s Principal ...