SciDev.Net news

• Researchers win grant to further test app for smallholders

• App diagnoses deadly cassava diseases in field, sends alerts

• Roll-out in Africa needs engagement with farmers, says expert

A team of scientists has received US$100,000 grant to refine a mobile application (app) that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose crop diseases, and aims to help millions o

A Brazilian scientist who developed a method that reduces greenhouse gas emissions from sugarcane cultivation has been awarded a prize that each year recognises a researcher whose work has excelled in the area of fertiliser use.

Heitor Cantarella received the International Fertilizer Association’s (IFA) Norman Borlaug Award on World Fertilizer Day, on 13 October — t

Joining a high-yield pepper plant sapling to the roots of a strong and resistant variety could help pepper farmers cope with lower rainfall, a study has found.

An experiment using the technique of merging two plants, known as grafting, resulted in higher fruit yield during periods of less rain. Plants also grew much better in salty soil, a by-product of drought, the researchers found. The results of the study 

Chickens farmed for meat and eggs in India’s Punjab state harbour high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, says a new Indo-US study.
 
“Misuse of antibiotics in animal farms endangers all of us because it multiplies drug resistance in the environment,” says Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Washington-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, and who led the study published July in

Using drone technology could cut labour and costs spent in collecting data for maize breeding by at least ten per cent, preliminary findings of a project shows.
 
With increased demand for better seeds to adapt to changing climate, breeders have turned to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones for precise gathering of d

Experts and stakeholders in Egypt warn of imminent water poverty as a result of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is about to become operational. Meanwhile, agricultural production consumes about 85 per cent of the country’s water resources, half of which goes towards rice irrigation.

Rice cultivation consumes more than 10 billion cubic meters of water annually, or more than one-sixth of Egypt`s share of Nile water, Khaled Ghanem, professor of Organic Fa

A mobile phone-based innovation that can predict rain is helping farmers in six Sub-Saharan Africa countries sow, fertilise and harvest crops at the optimum time.

The innovation is being used in Cote d`Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal to improve crop yields and optimise food

Policies that secure intellectual property rights (IPRs) for agricultural innovations often fail to encourage technology transfer to developing countries or increase crop yields, a study shows.

“Intellectual property rights are not all they are cracked up to be,” says David Spielman, a co-author of the

Farming insects on a large scale is no more of a biological or chemical hazard than other livestock farming, says a report by a European food safety body.

The report, which looks at the potential of insects as food or animal feed, says the microbiological, chemical and environmental risks of insect farming are similar to those of other animal husbandry.

Converting grazing land into fields to grow crops for biofuels could provide up to 30 per cent of the world’s energy needs, according to a report.

The report says at least 500 million hectares are available for sustainable