Agric & Biotech

We have read with interest Monsanto’s defence of NBMA in its response to Premium Time’s report highlighting NBMA’s surreptitious granting of permits to them to bring their GMOs and glyphosate into Nigeria. We restate here that Monsanto’s applications were approved without due diligence and that the law setting up NBMA is extremely flawed in that it gives individuals in the agency the latitude ...

For the 2016 farming season, the Steering Committee of the Cassava Weed Management Project, which is managed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA-CWMP) has approved the establishment of 58 on-farm trials across Nigeria. The plan, accordingly to the decision that formed part of resolutions and recommendations of the 2016 Steering Committee meeting held in IITA, Ibadan 28-29 April ...

Following a five-month progress report, the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) Project has established 137 limiting nutrient and 70 intercrop trials in a bid to crack the agronomy of cassava. Agronomy implies the science of soil management and crop production. Centered on improving cassava production, the project aims to improve the livelihoods and incomes of cassava farmers in Nigeria, Ghana, ...

The African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), an Agency of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and Nigeria’s Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu will hold a training programme for African policy and decision-makers on Biosafety, in collaboration with the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) and the Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA. According to a Concept Note developed by the ...

We are at crossroads in the struggle for sustainable agriculture, safe foods, biosafety and biosecurity. Navigating this intersection and assuring Nigerians that their concerns are not pushed out of view by profit-driven biotech transnational corporations and their agents can only be achieved through a broad movement of vigilant Nigerians, and Africans at large. The coming together of faith based organisations, ...

UNEP reports shed light on how countries are using different tools to shift to low-carbon, resource-efficient economies that achieve sustainable development Almost one quarter of China will be covered in forest by 2020 if the country succeeds in its mission towards building an “eco-civilisation”, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) finds. The adoption of the 2030 Agenda ...

For the past year, the Forest Unit of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has been restoring the Arboretum in the IITA-Ibadan campus in Oyo State as a Tree Heritage Park for the conservation of rare and endangered Nigerian trees. Massive amounts of exotic trees, “bush”, and weeds have been cleared from the original plots. Several weeks ago, a tree ...

Poland is the latest country to reject genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their food production, thus exercising a right granted to all EU member states earlier this year. Poland is the 11th country so far to officially abstain from using GM food approved by the European Commission. In a drive to address national concerns, in March Brussels authorised countries to ...

One Acre Foundation, a non-profit agriculture organisation that supplies smallholder farmers with the financing and training they need to increase their incomes and food security, has announced the official opening of its Malawi and Uganda operations. Malawi and Uganda began as pilots in 2013 and 2014 respectively. One Acre Fund now serves 400,000 smallholder farmers – with an estimated two ...

Nigeria, with over 170 million people, is one of the most populated countries in Africa. Before the oil boom, the economy was known to thrive excellently on agriculture and it was no wonder the Naira was able to rub shoulders with western currencies. But, with the emergence of crude oil and the “pot of gold” that came with it, agriculture, ...