agriculture development News
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The Role of Charcoal Making Machines in Agricultural Development
Charcoal has long been a valuable resource in agriculture, contributing to soil enrichment and energy generation. However, recent advancements in charcoal making machine has revolutionized its role in agricultural development. This article explores the significance of charcoal in agriculture, the evolving technology behind charcoal making machines, and the multifaceted impact on modern farming ...
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GODAN Action - Enabling practical engagement with open data in agriculture and nutrition
As the world’s population grows, global demand for food is predicted to nearly double. The number of people at risk of hunger in the developing world is estimated to grow to more than a billion people by 2050. New data-driven solutions in agriculture and nutrition are increasingly being seen as a way to tackle this challenge. GODAN Action is a three-and-a-half-year programme led by Alterra ...
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India-UK fund to boost agro-innovation in Africa and Asia
The Indian and UK governments are tapping into agricultural innovation outside the traditional international development community with the launch of a £20 million (US$32 million) programme for food security. Sustainable Crop Production Research for International Development (SCPRID) will allow scientists to research stressors, ranging from pests to climate change, on five key crops ...
By SciDev.Net
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Traditional farming methods in India protect birds
Under the right conditions, traditional agricultural practices can support significant biodiversity in farmed areas over the long term. A new study shows that arecanut plantations combined with forest areas support bird life. The researchers studied bird communities in arecanut plantations found in southwest India to assess whether biodiversity could be sustained in an agriculturally developed ...
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Indian Ocean islands link up via agriculture web portal
As part of a new project to improve biodiversity and agriculture science reporting within the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), a group of 11 press officers were trained last month (24–25 May) in Mauritius. The press officers come from the agriculture ministries of the IOC islands — Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles — as well as Zanzibar. The ...
By SciDev.Net
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South Asia gets climate-smart learning platform
A new learning platform aims to facilitate the sharing of 'climate-smart' agriculture practices that address growing concerns about food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation in South Asia. The Climate Smart Agriculture Learning Platform for South Asia was launched last month (23 April) by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on ...
By SciDev.Net
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Adoption of a further 24 Rural Development Programmes to boost the EU farming sector and our countryside
The European Commission has today approved a further 24 Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) aimed at improving the competitiveness of the EU farming sector, caring for the countryside and climate, and strengthening the economic and social fabric of rural communities in the period until 2020. The programmes adopted today are expected to create over 40 000 jobs in rural areas and about 700 000 ...
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Towards a new European agricultural and agri-food product promotion policy
The European Commission today presented a draft reform of the information and promotion policy for European agricultural and food products. This new promotion policy, which benefits from a more substantial budget and will in the future be supported by a European executive agency, is intended to act as key for opening up new markets. With the slogan 'Enjoy, it´s from Europe', the policy aims ...
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Swaziland is moving towards commercial farming
In a major effort to revitalize agriculture here, the government, the European Union and FAO have helped over 20,000 smallholder farmers produce more, higher-quality food and connect with new markets. Agriculture is on its way to become a key driver of Swaziland’s development. The vast majority of Swaziland’s 1.2 million people depend on subsistence farming. But years of economic ...
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Traditional farming `can save threatened species`
Traditional farming methods are crucial for protecting a number of threatened bird species in the developing world, including bustards, cranes, ibises and vultures, a study has found. Livestock grazing and features associated with arable farming — such as hedgerows — create environmental conditions that certain birds currently depend on for food, shelter and breeding, the authors ...
By SciDev.Net
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Focus on Disability: Changing agricultural attitudes
Low-tech projects are overturning prejudices and leaving disabled people free to farm, says Sue Coe. Two recent SciDev.Net stories covered important current food provision issues: farming methods for smallholders and the need for more agricultural research funding in the post-2015 global development goals. Agriculture is a vital sector for many living in poverty across the developing world, but ...
By SciDev.Net
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Record-breaking, third Agritech Expo in Chisamba hailed as “tremendously successful” by ZNFU
With a record-breaking attendance of 17 605 visitors, the third edition of Agritech Expo Zambia has firmly established itself as the leading outdoor agri event in the region. This year’s attendance is a 50% increase in visitors compared to last year’s figure of 11 740. Thousands of small-scale, emerging and commercial farmers arrived at the GART Research Centre in Chisamba from ...
By VUKA Group
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Harnessing carbon financing to boost sustainable farming
Some 100 experts from five continents have met to chart the way to harnessing a large new flow of funding – carbon finance – to agricultural development and to improving the lives of poor farmers the world over. Billions of dollars are available every year under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism to finance initiatives helping reduce the amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions into ...
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Bees in the city: urban environments could help support pollinators
Urban areas may support higher levels of bee diversity than expected, new research has shown. The UK-wide study compared three different habitat types — nature reserves, farmland, and urban areas — and found a higher number of different bee species in urban areas than farmland. However, the overall pollinator diversity, which included species of bees, flies, hoverflies and ...
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FAO urges farmers to join “Greener” revolution
Some 100 delegates from 36 countries meeting at FAO last week called on farmers to join the ongoing “Greener” revolution represented by a form of farming known as Conservation Agriculture. This farming system, CA for short, aims to help feed the world more sustainably by building up soil ecosystems and reducing unnecessary soil disturbance wherever possible. According to one study, some 20 ...
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Rooftop farming: The next steps for development
Urban agriculture is becoming increasingly popular. A recent assessment of rooftop farming in Barcelona shows differing attitudes towards the practice, and provides important recommendations for the development of agricultural policy for the 21st century, such as including food production as a potential use of rooftops in planning legislation. Urban agriculture, defined by the Food and ...
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Research funding and skills key to food for post-2015
Public spending on agricultural research must double in the next decade if the world is to successfully move to sustainable methods of food production, says a UN-backed report. This funding must be coupled with long-term investment in the training of agricultural professionals to fill the skill gaps in many developing countries, concludes the report published yesterday by the Sustainable ...
By SciDev.Net
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New partnership to promote sustainable mechanization of agriculture
FAO and the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association CEMA , an international non-profit organisation, today forged a new partnership that aims to promote wider use of sustainable agricultural mechanization in developing countries. The two organizations will work together to manage and disseminate knowledge on sustainable approaches to agricultural mechanization. They will also ...
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Agco announces sustainable test farm in North dakota
AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO), a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology, announced today plans to build a state-of-the-art test farm in Casselton, North Dakota. This strategic initiative aims to develop innovative farming practices to create a truly sustainable farm, specifically focusing on precision agriculture ...
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World agribusiness R&D controlled by `cosy cartel`
The increasing consolidation of global agribusiness is leaving the world's food production in the hands of a corporate "cartel", warns a new market report from ETC Group, a civil society organization based in Canada. According to the report, six multinational corporations — BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta — control 75 per cent of all private-sector plant breeding ...
By SciDev.Net
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