Agric & Biotech

Indonesia and the European Union on Thursday agreed that, beginning 15 November 2016, Indonesia can issue the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licences to verified legal timber products it exports to the EU. The FLEGT Action Plan of 2003 is the EU’s initiative against illegal logging, which aims to reduce illegal logging by strengthening the sustainability and legality ...

Last week, the print and electronic media in Nigeria were awash again with a major propaganda news item on Genetically Modified Foods. This time, what looks like a false alarm was raised by unidentified sources that Dangote Plc and the Nigerian government have flooded Nigerian market with GMO rice. The news item was followed with a warning that “eating GMO ...

The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a network of 77 EU and US consumer organisations, on Thursday published a new resolution on consumer concerns about new genetic engineering techniques. Consumers have right to know when new genetic engineering techniques are used, including in their food, but companies are lobbying to exempt such products from regulation. A number of new genetic engineering techniques ...

In a reaction to claims by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), through its Director-General, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, that there is no iota of truth in the report that genetically modified (GM) rice is present in Nigeria, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has charged the agency to conduct tests to assure Nigerians there is no GM rice in ...

Sequel to a media report that the Federal Government and a firm have flooded the Nigerian market with Genetically Modified (GM) rice purported to be poisonous, the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has described the report as false, insisting that GM rice has neither been imported nor released into the country. Director-General of NBMA, ‎Dr. Rufus Ebegba, who disclosed this ...

GMO supporters “have discarded rigorous science”, says the Union of Latin American Scientists Committed to Society and Nature (UCCSN-AL) The Union of Latin American Scientists Committed to Society and Nature (UCCSN-AL) has issued a statement rejecting the letter signed by Nobel Prize laureates in favour of genetically modified crops and GMO golden rice. About GM crop science in general, UCCSN-AL says: “(Transgenesis) ...

What’s the weather doing? It is a question that obsesses many. But, for many Ethiopians, it is a question that makes the difference between plenty and destitution. Ethiopia is a rich and diverse country that is home to around 100 million people, 88 different languages and imbued with long, diverse history. Its highlands are seasonally wet and fertile and its ...

Executive members of the Timber Traders Organisation (TTO), Akure-Ofosu branch in Ondo State, have declared their readiness to join hands with the state government in curbing illegal activities of encroachers and poachers in the state forest reserves. They have also shown their willingness to collaborate with the state Ministry of Natural Resources in regenerating the forest reserves. The Chairman of ...

On Monday, 15th August, I was privileged to be a panelist at the “Experts meeting on Bio-safety & Bio-technology-GMOs” organised by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture. In attendance were the Ministers of Science &Technology, Agriculture and Environment. In their opening remarks, they made it clear that they look to these conversations to give them guidance in ...

The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated a roadmap for the agriculture sector, tagged: “The Green Alternative: Agriculture Promotion Policy, 2016-2020.” Speaking on Monday in Abuja at the occasion, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, said the vision was to revive the agric sector to boost food production in the country. According to Ogbeh, the policy would ...