agriculture extension News
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Preventing rangeland erosion: Developing better management practices in Iran
The rangelands of Iran have one of the world’s longest history of agriculture development, with a deep tradition of technological developments and knowledge of the soil that has produced centuries of fertile crops. Currently, however, new pressures to feed an increasing population of humans and livestock in the region has taken its toll on the land, as evidence now suggests that the soil is ...
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Green Super Rice Project Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Workshop held in Bangladesh
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Agricultural Learning and Impacts Network (ALINe) jointly organized theGreen Super Rice (GSR) Project Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Workshop on 8-10 September 2015 at BRAC Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh. This workshop aimed to create a common understanding of GSR in Bangladesh, to look at how the goals of GSR will be achieved and the ...
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African Green Revolution is possible
The time is ripe to revolutionise agriculture in Africa, says World Food Prize winner Gebisa Ejeta, writing in Science. When the Green Revolution swept across Asia in the 1960s, Africa had neither the human and institutional capacity, nor the right crops — the Green Revolution focused on wheat and rice, while African staples are sorghum, millet, maize and cassava — to benefit, says Ejeta. But ...
By SciDev.Net
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China pledges $50 million to FAO in support of South-South cooperation
China has announced a $50 million donation to FAO to support the Organization's program of "South-South cooperation" to improve food security and promote sustainable agricultural development over the next five years. Chinese Premiere Li Keqiang made the announcement today in a speech at FAO ahead of tomorrow's World Food Day celebrations. It was his first visit to a UN agency since assuming ...
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Reading the Farm: Ag Agents Learn About Sustainability as a System
Farmers and ranchers know that sustainable agriculture is defined by a system of connected parts rather than individual practices. Last month, the SARE/NACAA Fellows visited two diversified New Hampshire farms where this principle was reinforced through the Reading the Farm program. Reading the Farm encouraged Fellows to look at the farms as a sum of many parts. "Slowly taking an in-depth look ...
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N-Viro International Corporation Receives Toledo, Ohio Contract Extension
TOLEDO, Ohio - N-Viro International Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: NVIC) ("N-Viro"), an environmental technology company that markets an alternative fuel manufacturing process and agricultural products, announced today the Company has received a contract extension from the City of Toledo, Ohio (the "City"). During a Toledo City Council meeting held on Tuesday, September 28, 2010, the City ...
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Cactus could feed East African livestock, say scientists
A succulent, wild-growing cactus that has been widely dismissed as a noxious weed could sustain African livestock during drought, according to scientists at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). A paper by John Kang"ara and Josiah Gitari, animal nutritionists at KARI, concludes that Opuntia species — the prickly pear or paddle cacti — have extreme tolerance to drought and ...
By SciDev.Net
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European Union, Guardian newspaper, Indian NGO win FAO awards
The European Union (EU) and British newspaper The Guardian have won FAO awards, the EU for a €1 billion initiative in response to the food price crisis in 2008-2011, and The Guardian, for improving worldwide understanding of development issues. The EU shares its award with Indian NGO Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), honoured for its innovative and dedicated efforts to lift ...
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Plácido Plaza elected CIHEAM Secretary General
On 22 February 2019, at the 42nd Governing Board meeting of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) held in Paris, Plácido Plaza was elected unanimously as new Secretary General of the CIHEAM. The Spanish authorities’ candidate will take up office on 1st March 2019, for a first term of four years, after completing an interim period. With his ...
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Agroecology a `spectacular` success, says UN expert
Agroecology, a science-based, ecological approach to agriculture, has been underestimated by policymakers even though it could play a vital role in boosting crop yields and advancing economic development, says a UN report. The approach relies on the natural environment to boost soil productivity and protect crops against pests, instead of using external inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. ...
By SciDev.Net
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Variable crop sowing dates `produce higher yields`
Cropping systems with variable sowing dates adapted to changing climatic conditions — as opposed to those with fixed sowing dates — will result in increased mean future crop yields, a modelling study has found. Multiple cropping systems, including growing two or more crops at the same time on the same plot (intercropping); after each other in a sequence (sequential cropping); or with ...
By SciDev.Net
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High levels of glyphosate in agricultural soil: ‘Extension of approval not prudent.’
There has been a great deal of discussion about the use and extension of the approval of use of glyphosate as a herbicide. Glyphosate is the most used herbicide in Europe. In 2016 the approval by the European Commission for the use of this agent expired. However, an extension of approval of use is currently being discussed. One of the conditions of this is that the agent cannot have a negative ...
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Farming needs `sustainable intensification` says report
The quest to feed the world's rapidly growing population over the next 40 years needs a frontloaded approach to funding agricultural research, according to a report on food security released today (24 January). New science and technologies are among the tools needed to achieve a huge 'sustainable intensification' of agriculture aimed at feeding the nine billion people expected to inhabit the ...
By SciDev.Net
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Feeding a growing world population requires investments in rural areas
Feeding the world’s growing population requires targeted investments to unleash the productive potential of millions living in rural areas, where nearly 80 percent of the world’s poor are found, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today. "It is a hard task, but it can be effectively done through a combination of investment in social protection, and targeted ...
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App ‘trained’ to spot crop disease, alert farmers
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 of African ...
By SciDev.Net
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Lessons from the Critical Years of Agricultural Development in the Lower Mekong Basin
Jeffrey A. MCNEELY, Chief Scientist of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and Willem VAN LIERE launch a new book: Agriculture in the Lower Mekong Basin –Experience from the Critical Decade of 1965-1975 Bangkok, Thailand, 31 October 2005 (IUCN) – A new IUCN book describes agricultural development and natural resource management in the Lower Mekong Basin in the early days of the region’s ...
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Impact of climate on mountain ecosystems under scrutiny
A four-year project aimed at addressing the lack of knowledge about the impacts of climate change on food security, livelihoods and economic prosperity in mountain ecosystems has been launched in East Africa. The project, Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services and Food Security in Eastern Africa (CHIESA) will be coordinated by the Nairobi-based International Centre of Insect Physiology ...
By SciDev.Net
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West Africa: Ebola outbreak puts harvests at risk, sends food prices shooting up
Disruptions in food trade and marketing in the three West African countries most affected by Ebola have made food increasingly expensive and hard to come by, while labor shortages are putting the upcoming harvest season at serious risk, FAO warned today. In Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, quarantine zones and restrictions on people's movement aimed at combating the spread of the virus, ...
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Banana compost could boost crop yields, a study finds
Using old banana trees to make compost may help boost crop yields while cutting down water and fertiliser use, according to an Egyptian researcher. Banana-based fertiliser could cut about 20 per cent of the water used in irrigating maize and lead to better yields and improved soil properties — such as availability of micronutrients and soil moisture — a researcher at Egypt's National ...
By SciDev.Net
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Cassava disease monitoring goes mobile
Mobile phones are the unlikely weapons being used to fight cassava disease in Tanzania, in a collaboration between scientists and farmers. As part of the Digital Early Warning Network (DEWN) farmers from ten districts in the Lake Zone region of Tanzania will be trained to recognise the symptoms of Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) and Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD). They will then send monthly ...
By SciDev.Net
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