Tag Archives: agriculture

Excessive and improper applications of insecticides and other agriculture chemicals in local fruit orchards may have triggered an outbreak of  acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), a condition often associated with deadly inflammation of the brain, that killed 13 children in a rural Bangladesh community in 2012, according to a new study published online on Monday, July 24, 2017 in the American Journal ...

Sustainable agriculture practices must be widely implemented in order to stem an alarming loss of biodiversity and to protect endangered species. This is according to the “Standards and Biodiversity” report released recently by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Agricultural production currently accounts for 40 per cent of global land surface and is responsible for 70 per cent of projected losses ...

Africa now has in place a number of Resource Networks to strategically address pertinent issues relating to the responsible development and use of agricultural biotechnology within countries, across sub-regions and around the continent. These Resource Networks are also to help strengthen and position the African group for tactical negotiations at the international level. This is to ensure that Africa’s concerns ...

The National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT) in Ibadan, Oyo State, has said that it will soon make a drought-resistant tomato variety available to farmers in the country. Dr. Olagorite Adetula, Director of Research and Head of Vegetable and Floriculture Department of NIHORT, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan. Adetula said the drought-resistant ...

The Additional Financing to the Third Fadama Development Project (Fadama III-AF) has been honoured with the Africa VPU Team Award by the World Bank. The award was announced by the Vice President for Africa of the World Bank, Makhtar Diop. It will be recalled that Fadama-II got the Award in 2007 and Fadama-III secured the same in 2014. The Africa ...

A new case study by the United Nations-based Better Than Cash Alliance shows how agriculture non-profit organisation, One Acre Fund, in partnership with Citi Inclusive Finance, successfully digitised loan repayments for farmers in Kenya. This move, it was gathered, significantly boosted transparency and efficiency, driving economic opportunity and financial inclusion for thousands of smallholder farmers and their families. One Acre Fund, supported by Citi, enabled farmers ...

The Dangote Group has disclosed that it is investing $1 billion in rice cultivation in five states to boost food self-sufficiency. The organisation made the disclosure on Monday, May 29, 2017 at the just concluded 2017 Gateway Trade Fair, which was held in Abeokuta, and in respect of which it emerged as the second most patronised exhibitor. To mark its ...

The Faculty of Agriculture of the Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State on Thursday, May 18, 2017 inaugurated its farm, even as it called on the various stakeholders in the country to show greater commitment to agriculture and allied activities to end hunger and poverty in the land. Declaring the event open, the Vice Chancellor of the University, ...

Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Sani Dangote, has lauded the new government policy on tomatoes, saying it will encourage increased local production and self-sufficiency. Speaking on the heels of the new policy aimed at reducing the N52 billion spent on the annual importation of 150,000 metric tons of tomato concentrate through the neighboring countries into Nigeria, Dangote said the ...

A study has ascertained that, of all the factors driving deforestation in Ghana, agriculture is prime with cocoa cultivation being the leading cause of forest conversion in the high forest zone, while oil palm and rubber are becoming major threats. The study revealed that logging itself does not convert forests, but it opens up the forest for potential encroachment by ...