seed distribution News
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Seed bank targets food security in Asia
Many neglected indigenous plants can play an important role in fighting hunger, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity in developing countries. The ECHO Asia Seed Bank in Thailand encourages the use of such plants by saving their seeds and distributing them to development workers throughout Asia for free. Ratakarn ‘Wah’ Arttawuttikun, who manages the daily operations of this unique ...
By SciDev.Net
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Disaster relief seeds `should be more diverse`
African farmers who lose their seeds in floods and droughts could restore their crop biodiversity quicker by trading local seed varieties at markets and through informal social links than by receiving seeds from aid agencies, a study suggests. The genetic diversity of crops allows plant populations to adapt to changing environments and provides the raw materials for crop improvement programmes. ...
By SciDev.Net
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Irish Minister for Trade and Development visits FAO agriculture recovery projects in the Philippines
Irish Minister for Trade and Development Joe Costello visited an FAO rice seed project funded by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and witnessed the positive impact of Ireland's financial support on the livelihoods of typhoon-affected farmers in Barangay Olotan, municipality of Jaro, Leyte. Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) damaged 600 000 hectares of agricultural ...
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Afghanistan: New Survey Techniques improve Opium Poppy Monitoring
Accurate monitoring of opium poppy production in Afghanistan – responsible for 90% of the world’s supply of the illegal crop – has become increasingly difficult with rising security concerns, but remote sensing survey techniques developed by Cranfield University have proved critical in providing accurate information to inform UK and international policy and counter-narcotics ...
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Crisis-hit farmers receive seeds and tools in Central African Republic
A major operation to distribute seeds and tools has been launched in the Central African Republic to support crisis-hit farming families. This is the largest ever intervention in the country led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its humanitarian partners. Some 16 international and national non-governmental organizations are working with FAO to overcome the challenges of ...
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Farmers need urgent help to plant in the Central African Republic
Farmers in the Central African Republic are in urgent need of seeds and essential tools for the March planting season if they are to help avert a full-scale food and nutrition crisis in the country, FAO said today. Some 1.6 million people, or over a third of the population, already require life-saving food assistance in the conflict-stricken nation, where one in five people have fled their homes ...
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US–Nepal hybrid maize project runs into criticism
Uncertainty hangs over a proposed partnership between US and Nepalese scientists to promote hybrid maize in the Himalayan country, after the project sparked local concerns over the potential loss of traditional local varieties and weak biotechnology regulation. The pilot project of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Nepal's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and US ...
By SciDev.Net
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Typhoon-stricken farmers receive first emergency seeds
One month after Typhoon Haiyan struck a devastating blow to the Philippines, farmers who lost essential crops and supplies are receiving the first wave of emergency seeds, restoring hope for a productive planting season and much-needed food for the coming year. FAO and the Philippines' Department of Agriculture (DA) have begun delivering the first rice and corn seed allocations to rural ...
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Climate-Smart Rice Now Grown by 10 Million Farmers
About 10 million of the poorest and most disadvantaged rice farmers have been given access to climate-smart rice varieties, which includes flood-tolerant ones. “Swarna-Sub1 changed my life,” said Mr. Trilochan Parida, a farmer at the Dekheta Village of Puri in Odisha, India. Floods ravage Trilochan's rice field every year. Flooding of four days or more usually means a painful loss of ...
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Ecotopia Social Gamers Click to Plant 25,000 Real Trees
In an effort to demonstrate how online games can effect positive change in the real world, independent games studio Talkie leveraged its presence at the annual Games for Change Festival to issue a challenge to fans of its eco-friendly social game, Ecotopia™, to plant 25,000 trees in-game in 25 days or less. If the challenge is met, Talkie committed to planting ...
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United Kingdom contributes to FAO’s work in Syria and Lebanon
The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) is donating £10 million to FAO humanitarian projects in Syria and Lebanon. Part of the United Kingdom’s contribution will go towards boosting winter wheat and barley production in Syria, where more than 4 million people are food insecure. Ongoing conflict has hit food production in the country. Many farmers had ...
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Zaad and Chromatin Agree to Produce and Distribute Sorghum Seed in Africa
Chromatin, Inc. and Zaad Holdings LTD, announced today that they have entered into a long-term alliance to produce and distribute planting seed for grain and forage sorghum throughout the African continent. Zaad, a vertically integrated agriculture company, distributes seed to Africa’s growers through a network of subsidiaries and established brands. Chromatin, an agriculture technology ...
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FAO Director-General meets typhoon-stricken farmers in the Philippines
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva today witnessed the positive results of FAO's Typhoon Haiyan response programme and committed FAO to supporting the recovery of fishing and farming livelihoods in the longer term. Graziano da Silva travelled together with Secretary Proceso Alcala of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Permanent Representative to FAO, ...
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New Chickpea Helps Turkish Farmers Adapt to Global Warming
ALEPPO, Syria, September 4, 2007 (ENS) - The chickpea, one of the plants with the highest amount of protein, is a staple of Turkish food - enjoyed as a dip called hummus, roasted as a snack food called leblebi, often thrown into a soup or tossed onto a salad. But Turkish farmers have been enduring a severe drought for several years, which has caused their crops to fail. Now a new chickpea ...
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EPA fines Monsanto for distributing misbranded genetically engineered pesticide (HQ)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Monsanto Company Inc., of St. Louis, Missouri, has agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty to resolve misbranding violations related to the sale and distribution of cotton seed products containing genetically engineered pesticides. This is the largest civil administrative penalty settlement ever received under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide ...
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South Sudan facing major food and nutrition crisis
FAO today warned of a major food security and nutrition crisis in South Sudan, where some 3.7 million people are now facing acute or emergency levels of food insecurity. The Organization is calling for $77 million for critical food security and livelihood support for the crisis-affected population as prices of staple crops soar and basic commodities run out. UN agencies and NGOs have revised a ...
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Africa and India cultivate agricultural research ties
Africa and India are gearing up to further enhance cooperation in agricultural science, technology and innovation, and move beyond dialogue to a range of practical options from a virtual biotech platform to agribusiness centres, seed investments and even joint donor-aided projects. Willy Tonui, chief executive officer of Kenya’s National Biosafety Authority, said that studying how India ...
By SciDev.Net
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Six months after disaster, Philippine farmers bring in the harvest
Tens of thousands of farmers are bringing in their first rice harvest just six months after one of the worst typhoons to ever hit the Philippines left their fields in tatters and their livelihoods at risk, FAO announced today. After Typhoon Haiyan hit the central Philippines on 8 November, 2013, the situation was dire. More than 6,000 people lost their lives, while some 600,000 hectares of ...
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