Scientists have discovered that grasses are able to short cut evolution by taking genes from their neighbours. The findings suggest wild grasses are naturally genetically modifying themselves to gain a competitive advantage.
Understanding how this is happening may also help scientists reduce the risk of genes escaping from GM crops and …
Crops and foods today are not what they used to look like.
Farmers and plant breeders have been modifying plant genes since the earliest human communities were formed and farming took hold in order to develop crops that better resist pests and foods with improved nutrition and taste.
Biotechnology proponents, particularly agro-biotechnology …
Heavy rains and cyclones have triggered a recent surge in Desert Locust populations, causing an outbreak to develop in Sudan and Eritrea that is rapidly spreading along both sides of the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, FAO warned today.
The UN agency called on all the affected countries to …
Global agriculture is increasingly dominated by just a handful of crops with limited genetic richness, says a group of researchers writing in PLOS One.
The research shows that despite an uptick in the diversity of crops grown across the planet over the last 60 years, the largest share of our crops worldwide is …
B4FA Fellow Lominda Afedraru reports
If you manage to visit farmers growing cereal crops in most parts of East Africa including Uganda, you will notice striga weed infestation is a huge challenge.
Striga also known as witch weed, is a coerce plant parasitic weed which infests roots of the host plant …
B4FA Fellow Lominda Afedraru writes:
Forests and trees are crucial to the lives of many Ugandans, especially the rural communities who rely on them for food, employment and as an income earning initiative.
This is achieved through increased resilience of human made and natural growing of tree species for both wood and …
B4FA Fellow Michael Ssali reports:
Farmers always worry about possible loss of their crops due to pests and crop diseases. It is one of the reasons they keep monitoring their fields to ensure all is going on well. Fighting pests and crop diseases increases the farmers’ production costs and often reduces profits.
It …
Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General José Graziano da Silva has said the world must adopt a new approach that incorporate re-positioning food systems from feeding people to nourishing people.
He was speaking at University of California Law School (UCLA Law School) recently during his lecture titled ‘A Global Perspective on Regulating …
A four-minute documentary video on evolutionary plant breeding, a technique that can help farmers develop plant varieties that thrive in local conditions. In the video, Italian plant geneticist Salvatore Ceccarelli explains how the technique could help farmers around the world respond to problems posed by climate change and gain autonomy. Over …
Food security for all is a cornerstone of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, which recognizes that global sustainable development can only be achieved if hunger and all forms of malnutrition are eradicated (Sustainable Development Goal number 2). Nevertheless, the international community must be aware that food security does not only …
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