Agric & Biotech

Food Tank and The Lexicon for Sustainability feature farming and resilience through The Food List, a cross-media messaging campaign that provides the vital tools needed for fixing the food system Farmers depend on just a handful of crop varieties, which can be more easily wiped out by pests, diseases, or climate change. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm ...

Foundations and international donors can play a greater role in providing assistance to scale-up ecological farming initiatives in Africa, according to a report released today by Greenpeace Africa. The report entitled Financing Ecological Farming in Africa – a Guide for International Donors spells out the crucial financial, technical, capacity and network-building support that donors can provide. Over recent years there ...

Palm oil conglomerate ordered to halt expansion of operations following multiple violations of RSPO standards The Complaints Panel of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has upheld the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) in its complaint against Golden Agri Resources, which was seeking to expand 18 of its operations in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, the ...

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Community Based Resource Management, Niger Delta has disbursed N26. 7 million to Youth in Agriculture Foundation in Akwa Ibom State. The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Godwin Afangideh, presented the cheque to the Chairman, Commodity Apex Development Association (CADA) in Uyo on Thursday. Afangideh, who was represented by the Director ...

With ‘Food Safety’ being the theme of this year’s World Health Day on April 7, 37 laureates of the Right Livelihood Award from across the world have endorsed a declaration on the future of nutrition, denouncing Golden Rice and Genetically Modified Bananas as ‘false miracles’ to achieving food security. Golden Rice is a genetically engineered rice variety offered by GM proponents as ...

One of the familiar narratives for the promotion of genetically modified (GM) crops is that they have the potential to alleviate poverty and hunger. But the real impacts of GM crops deserve closer assessment, writes Wanqing Zhou, research associate in the Food and Agriculture Programme at the Worldwatch Institute. The analysis explores trends and consequences of GM crops   The amount of ...

The Kaduna State Government has commenced disbursement of loans to farmers in the state under a partnership with the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) with a total sum of N1 billion ready for access by the farmers. The state governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, disclosed this at a flag-off ceremony and distribution of cheques to benefiting farmer cooperative groups and individual farmers in the ...

Growing cotton provides livelihoods for an estimated 100 million households in as many as 85 countries. But adverse global market conditions and reliance on large doses of water, fertilizer, and pesticides impose considerable social and environmental costs, writes Michael Renner, senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute. Although synthetic materials are making inroads, cotton remains by far the most important natural fiber ...

The Rockefeller Foundation, the African Union Commission and the International Fund for Agriculture Development on Sunday in Rome, Italy launched the ‘Leadership for Agriculture (L4Ag): The Network for African Ministers of Finance and Agriculture’ on the sidelines of this year’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s Governing Council Meeting. L4Ag is an exclusive network of Africa’s ministers of finance and ...

Oxfam Nigeria, with the Human and Environment Development Agenda (HEDA), has launched the food and climate justice campaign with the aim of changing public attitude towards agriculture and building a movement to increase food sufficiency for local consumption and export. An official of the Nigeria Conservation Foundation (NCF), Mrs. Funmi Tsewinor, said the increasing global impact of climate change affects ...