agriculture development News
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Overcoming obstacles to GM crop adoption
This policy brief, published by the UK's Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), examines the potential benefits and challenges of using genetically modified (GM) crops for agricultural development in the developing world, and highlights policy approaches that could support a positive contribution to food security. With the majority of the workforce in developing countries ...
By SciDev.Net
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West Africa has potential to strengthen its agricultural sector
Boosting productivity, fostering competitiveness and ensuring that small-scale farmers have greater access to markets are key to West Africa realizing its full agricultural potential, according to a new study released today by FAO and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The publication, Rebuilding West Africa’s Food Potential, presents a range of successful case ...
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China signs $50 million South-South Cooperation agreement with FAO
China and FAO today signed a $50 million agreement to support developing countries in building sustainable food systems and inclusive agricultural value chains, recognizing the growing importance of collaboration between Southern countries in the fight against extreme hunger and poverty. China's new contribution to the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund will support the exchange of ...
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EU and FAO help six countries achieve Millennium Development Goal on hunger
Less than two years before the deadline set to achieve international development goals, the European Union (EU) and FAO step up their efforts to reduce world hunger assisting two million people in six countries with agricultural development activities worth nearly €60 million. The funding comes from a €1 billion EU initiative that aims to foster speedier progress towards the Millennium ...
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Harper Government Invests to Create New Seed Varieties for the Sunflower Sector
Member of Parliament Larry Maguire (Brandon-Souris), on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and the Honourable Ron Kostyshyn, Manitoba Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, today announced a combined federal-provincial investment of over $1.8 million to the National Sunflower Association of Canada (NSAC) to develop new seed varieties and boost sunflower acreage in Western ...
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President`s budget proposal includes increase to Ag-related sciences
The Obama Administration rolled out a multi-trillion-dollar budget proposal Monday, February 13, which includes an increase in funding for agriculture related research and development. The $3.8 trillion federal budget proposal shows the U.S. Department of Agriculture would endure cuts of $32 billion over 10 years, largely through the elimination of direct payments, as well as cuts of subsidies ...
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World Food Day – CSIRO rising to the challenges
'There needs to be another ‘agricultural revolution’ where we see an increase in productivity, but with more efficient water, energy and nutrient use and without sending more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,' says the Director of CSIRO’s Sustainable Agriculture Flagship, Dr Brian Keating. Taking into account population growth, economic development and food consumption growth in developing ...
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Practical, free workshops again for farmers at Agritech Expo in Chisamba in April
The upcoming Agritech Expo, taking place from 16-18 April at GART in Chisamba, offers a range of free, practical workshops to assist farmers in the use of the latest technologies to improve their productive capacity and to become more competitive. More than 10 000 people are expected to descend on the centre of agriculture in Zambia again next month, following the hugely successful launch of the ...
By VUKA Group
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FIGARO to start field tests of new innovative precise irrigation system in nine European countries
Kavalla, Greece -- FIGARO, an EU-funded international project focused on developing new precision technologies to improve irrigation management for the purpose of increasing water productivity in major water-demanding crops on farm level, today announced that it has begun conducting field tests of its new innovative precise drip irrigation system in nine European countries. FIGARO (Flexible and ...
By FIGARO
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New mobile robot to support agri-tech experiments in the field
Scientists at the University of Lincoln, UK, have taken delivery of an advanced new mobile robot to support agri-tech experiments at the University’s agricultural field station. The Thorvald agricultural robot, developed with scientists from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, is the latest piece of technology added to the facilities of the Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology ...
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FAO and Grameen Foundation to improve small-holder farmer access to technologies
Grameen Foundation and FAO will work closely to enhance small-holder farmer access to knowledge and technologies for sustainable production and food security through the use of mobile agriculture supported services. The two organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) also aimed at improving farming innovation exchange, strengthening small-holder households to gain better access ...
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IRRI calls for stricter controls on use of pesticides
Governments across Asia need to improve their regulation of way that pesticides are marketed, and should ban certain pesticides from use in rice production completely, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is based in Manila, the Philippines. IRRI released an action plan listing potential strategies for scaling back pesticide use and adopting ecological growing ...
By SciDev.Net
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European Union awards FIGARO consortium €6 million for new precision technologies to improve irrigation management
Tel Aviv, Israel – The European Union (EU) has awarded FIGARO (Flexible and Precise Irrigation Platform to Improve Farm Scale Water Productivity), an international Consortium led by Netafim Ltd , €6 million to develop new precision technologies to improve irrigation management to increase water productivity in major water-demanding crops. FIGARO researchers will focus their efforts ...
By FIGARO
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New Report Shows Agriculture Productivity Consistently Up
Ohio farmers have been producing more and, on average, earning slightly more too. Improved technology, rising crop yields, farmer ingenuity and lower prices for farm inputs have led to higher agricultural productivity, specifically annual increases of 1.6 percent since the 1950s, according to a report produced by a team of agricultural economists from the College of Food, Agricultural, and ...
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Satellites help keep Chesapeake Bay clean
Space-age technologies to help Maryland implement and monitor an expanded winter cover crop program that is vital to the Chesapeake Bay's health are being developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Beltsville, Md. Soil scientist Gregory McCarty and colleagues Dean Hively, Ali Sadeghi and Megan Lang with the ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory in Beltsville are ...
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Fostering closer collaboration across the rice value chain
With increasing challenges in agriculture, and 2015 in particular being a difficult year for farmers in ASEAN, rice farmers need access to technologies to help them increase yields and efficiency. From October 14 to 16, over 100 policymakers and rice experts from across ASEAN countries gathered at the ASEAN Rice Future Forum in Vietnam to discuss how public-private and value chain partnerships ...
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Reality check for `miracle` biofuel crop
The hardy jatropha tree as a biofuel source may not be the panacea for smallholders that some have claimed, say Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku. It sounds too good to be true: a biofuel crop that grows on semi-arid lands and degraded soils, replaces fossil fuels in developing countries and brings huge injections of cash to poor smallholders. That is what some are claiming for Jatropha curcas, ...
By SciDev.Net
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SC Johnson grows sustainability around the world
SC Johnson believes a flower can change a community. The company’s latest ad, titled 'Flower,' highlights the company's work with partners in Rwanda. For more than 40 years, SC Johnson, A Family Company, has purchased pyrethrum (py), a botanical insecticide that is extracted from chrysanthemums, from East Africa for use in some of its pest control products sold around the world under the Raid and ...
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Remote pest managment with automated traps
A decade spent developing pheromones for pest management underscored the importance of these chemicals for Michael Gilbert, president and CEO of British Columbia’s SemiosBio Technologies Inc. But at a cost of up to $5,000 a kilogram, pheromones are also one of the costliest pest control products on the market, making targeted deployment key to cost-effectiveness. Ideally, growers would ...
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Renewed cooperation between CIHEAM and FAO
The International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) based in Paris and FAO will strengthen their cooperation under an agreement signed at FAO's Rome headquarters this week. The Agreement of Cooperation was signed by Bertrand Hervieu, Secretary General of CIHEAM and Hervé Lejeune, FAO Assistant Director-General and Directeur de Cabinet. In it, both organizations agreed ...
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