agroecology News
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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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Agrosciences on line : launch of the Agreenium-IAVFF Online University
With learning strategies including ever more digital content, the first course from the Agreenium-Institut Agronomique Vétérinaire et Forestier de France (IAVFF, France's Agricultural, Veterinary and Forestry Institute) Online University is now open for subscriptions. Officially launched by three Ministers on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at the Paris International Agricultural Show ...
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Europe can go organic
Europe could be farmed entirely through agroecological approaches such as organic and still feed a growing population, a new scientific paper released yesterday shows. Published a week after research revealed a steep decline in global insect populations linked to pesticide use, the ‘Ten Years for Agroecology’ study from European think tank IDDRi shows that pesticides can be phased ...
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A new generation of Indian farmers rejects industrial food production
Supported by the Amrita Bhoomi Agroecology Centre, young farmers are experimenting with natural farming methods, while saving money and lives in the process. India may be famous for its food, but the way in which it grows its ingredients is notoriously bad. Stories of the nation’s chemical spills, soil contamination, groundwater depletion, and lost biodiversity are depressing, not to ...
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Farming and knowledge monocultures are misconceived
Food needs can be met with a new vision for agriculture and science, say Brian Wynne and Georgina Catacora-Vargas. In mainstream policy and corporate thinking, scientific knowledge and global markets are considered key for food security. This has resulted in the industrialisation and laboratory research-led intensification of agricultural systems, inputs and food-supply chains. But intensified ...
By SciDev.Net
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Launching Covid-19 recovery plan for UK food, farming and land use
This week, Boris Johnson is expected to give more details on the UK Government’s ten-point green recovery plan. Ahead of this, we are launching our “Grow Back Better” manifesto, a ten-point plan for a post-Covid-19 recovery. Our Grow Back Better manifesto is a new route-map setting out how recovery efforts post Covid-19 must invest in areas focus on the interconnected nature of ...
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Pest ants help to improve Indonesian cocoa yields
Native ants living in cacao trees in Indonesia that are often seen as pests in fact seem to boost their yields, a study suggests. Scientists from Germany, Indonesia and Sweden studying how ant communities affect cocoa yields in Sulawesi found that trees with abundant native ants (Dolichoderus sp.) produced the best yields. In contrast, the yields of cacao trees where ants were excluded were 27 ...
By SciDev.Net
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FAO will cooperate with La Via Campesina, the largest movement of small food producers in the world
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and General Coordinator of La Via Campesina Elizabeth Mpofu today formalized an institutional framework for the relationship between the two organizations and defined proposals of collaboration in areas of common interest. The agreement marks a milestone in the relationship between FAO and civil society organizations, as La Via Campesina is the ...
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High-yield crops have curbed agricultural land expansion, but care needed to avoid negative biodiversity effects
The widespread use of higher-yielding improved varieties of crops as part of the Green Revolution’ has averted the conversion of between 18 to 27 million hectares of forests, woodlands and pastures in the period 1965 to 2004, according to a recent study. However, its authors caution that the relationship between these crops and land use change is complex, and good governance is needed to ...
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Easing organic agricultural trade
Organic farmers in developing countries will have greater access to world markets, thanks to two practical tools launched this week that seek to ease trade in organic agricultural products. The new tools, which are the outcome of six years of collaborative work by FAO, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), ...
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Increasing food production without damaging the environment
To achieve sustainable development we must transform current agriculture and food systems, including by supporting smallholders and family farmers, reducing pesticide and chemical use, and improving land conservation practices, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today addressing European lawmakers. "Massive agriculture intensification is contributing to increased ...
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Shallots in Indonesia: Searching for suitable cropland
Shallots, an onion variety, is the second major horticultural crop after hot peppers in Indonesia. But Indonesia is not self-sufficient in shallot production resulting in imports from countries like India, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Government of Indonesia aims to increase the shallot production to meet the increasing domestic demand and to reduce imports. True shallot seed system Due to the ...
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France to collaborate on FAO strategic objectives
FAO and French research institutions will step up cooperation in key research areas and coordinate their actions within the global framework of FAO’s renewed strategy. Two agreements signed today cover a broad spectrum of joint activities, including agro-ecology, biodiversity, animal health, food loss, agrarian reforms and genetic resources, which will contribute to FAO’s Strategic ...
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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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Agro-ecology methods are key to food security
Agro-ecological farming methods, not industrial-scale agriculture will be needed to ensure food security and protect food supplies from the impacts of climate change, argues Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He challenges the widely held view that food production needs to be scaled up to feed a growing population, saying that such a strategy overlooks climate ...
By SciDev.Net
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FAO and WHO Publish Guidelines on Highly Hazardous Pesticides
On May 10, 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines on highly hazardous pesticides (HHP) (Guidelines) as part of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management (Code of Conduct). HHPs are defined in the Guidelines as “pesticides that are acknowledged to present particularly high levels of ...
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Burundi set to embrace hybrid maize seeds
Farmers in Burundi are set to benefit from new high-yielding, fast-maturing hybrid maize seeds that are also resistant to maize streak virus. The varieties are being tested by the Burundi Institute of Agronomic Sciences (ISABU) and should be available to farmers in September. Two seed companies, Pannar and Naseco, based in Kenya and Uganda respectively, have developed the seeds. "These ...
By SciDev.Net
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2025: United behind the African agenda to eradicate hunger
Heads of State and Government of African Union Member States, together with representatives of international organizations, civil society organizations, private sector, cooperatives, farmers, youths, academia and other partners have unanimously adopted a Declaration to end hunger in Africa by 2025. The declaration calls for a combination of policies to promote sustainable agricultural ...
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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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FAO launches new standards for plant genebanks
A new FAO publication is aimed at improving conservation of food crops, many of which are crucial to the world’s food and nutrition security. The publication, Genebank Standards for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, outlines voluntary, international standards for the many repositories – or genebanks - around the world that store seeds and other materials used to ...
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