CEOs need to accelerate their action plans to safeguard the production of commodities critical to the global population and economy as heat stress and drought risk rise around the world, according to PwC's report, Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities: Protecting People and Prosperity, published. The report, which analysed nine …
LOCAL scientists have finished fully mapping the genetics of hybrid rice to find the genes responsible for better yielding hybrid rice. The research will help with the development of hybrid rice — the cross breeding of different types of rice. The gene mapping discovery was published by Nature Online, said …
Cheruvayal Raman, a tribal farmer, has helped in conserving 45 varieties of rice seeds heruvayal Raman, a tribal farmer at Kammana, near Mananthavadi, has bagged the National Plant Genome Saviour Award instituted by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Right Authority, India, for his lifetime engagement in protecting genetic …
NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first hybrid rice varieties developed in sub-Saharan Africa are yielding up to four times more than other improved varieties, say scientists, who are using web-based tools to identify the right climate conditions to maximise harvests. The 15 hybrids, bred in Kenya and Tanzania, are …
For a couple of days there has been no rain in Kaliabor and scorching heat has been making the life of people miserable. Due to unbearable heat caused by blazing sun and dearth of rain, the number of children going to school has also decreased. Although it has been raining …
BALASORE: THE flash floods triggered by heavy rain in Jharkhand last week has submerged thousands of hectares of agriculture land in northern parts of Balasore district, ruining paddy and vegetable crops. Even as the flood water has receded, standing paddy crops and vegetable fields were damaged in Baliapal and Bhogarai …
The Indian government through its ministry of external affairs has confirmed a $1 million grant to drought hit Zimbabwe. The Asian giant also announced that logistical modalities are being worked out for donation of 500 metric tonnes of rice in the second phase of assistance. This follows an appeal by …
The international prices for major food commodities saw a modest decline in July, following five consecutive months of increases, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The FAO Food Price Index, a trade-weighted gauge tracking international market prices for five major food commodity groups, averaged 161.9 points …
Deltas around the globe are facing a multitude of intensifying environmental change and development-linked pressures. One key concern is the reduction in the quantity of suspended sediment reaching and building floodplains. Sediment deposition provides multiple services to deltaic social-ecological systems, in particular, countering the subsidence of the delta-body, and providing …
International research led by The Australian National University (ANU) has found how plants, such as rice and wheat, sense and respond to extreme drought stress, in a breakthrough that could lead to the development of next-generation drought-proof crops. Lead researcher Dr Kai Xun Chan from the ANU Research School of …
Soil series representing different physiographic units were studied to know the impact of temporal change in land use and cropping system on some soil properties in the northwestern parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The dynamics in land use and cropping system for the period 1983–84, 1996–97 and 2007–2008 and change …
The recent period of high agricultural commodity prices is most likely over, say the OECD and FAO in their latest 10-year Outlook. But the two organisations warn of the need to be vigilant as the probability of a major price swing remains high. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025, published today, …
About a third of living Nobel laureates – 108 at last count – have signed an open letter which attacks Greenpeace for campaigning against genetically modified crops, especially one called Golden Rice. Addressed to the global environmental group, the United Nations and governments, the letter on Thursday says Greenpeace has …
This is a compilation of Success Stories of Integrated Pest Management with detailed insights into the strategies developed by ICAR–National Research Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM) for different crops suited to varied agro-climatic locations. ICAR-National Research Centre for Integrated Pest Management is bringing out a compilation of Success Stories …
A Japanese research team have applied a method used in human genetic analysis to rice and rapidly discovered four new genes that are potentially significant for agriculture. These findings could influence crop breeding and help combat food shortages caused by a growing population. The paper was published on June 21, …
Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Sunday that the National Food Security Act will be implemented in the remaining States next month to bring the whole country under its ambit. “The National Food Security Act is in force in 33 States/UTs, and in States of …
Residents of over 104 villages in five talukas — Olpad, Choryasi, Makrej, Palsana and Mangrol — in Surat district, South Gujarat, are up in arms against the move to bring their villages under the Surat Urban Development Authority (SUDA), which is preparing a master development plan 2035. The government has …
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a €15.7-million senior loan through its private sector window to "Compagnie Agricole de Saint-Louis du Sénégal" (CASL) for a rice production project in Senegal River Valley. This project will contribute to three major priorities of the AfDB …
Improving the productivity of smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa offers the best chance to reduce poverty among this generation of rural poor, by building on the limited resources farming households already possess. It is also the best and shortest path to meet rising food needs. Using examples from farmers' maize …
The CSIR-run laboratories will come up with some key consumer products over the next two years. These would include arsenic-free rice and anti-malarial drug. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research instruction (CSIR) has directed institutes coming under it to speed up research and introduce products and technologies that will …
This report analyzes the costs and benefits of managing nitrogen fertilizer in ways that also reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cereal production (rice, wheat, and maize) in India and Mexico. The purpose of this work is to inform finance needed for low emissions agricultural development. For each agricultural mitigation practice …
