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 …
Wheat, rice, sugar, cotton and maize are among the essential internationally traded crops in the global economy. To produce these crops many countries rely on irrigated agriculture that accounts for about 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, according to the United Nations Water program. One freshwater source is underground aquifers, …
A well-managed chemical nitrogen (N) fertilization practice combined with treated swine slurry (TSS) is necessary to improve sustainability and N use efficiency in rice farming. However, little is known about the fate of N derived from chemical N fertilizer with and without TSS in paddy soil-plant systems. Original Source
The worst drought in five years has pushed 900,000 people in Sri Lanka into "acute food insecurity", the World Food Programme (WFP) says. An unpublished survey conducted by government agencies and relief organisations in February found that both food insecurity and debt were rising sharply among families hit by drought, …
Crop management practices have a significant impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rates, where methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from rice paddy fields are in trade-off association. A field study for two consecutive years (2013 and 2014) was conducted to continuously measure CH4 and N2O emissions from rice …
Scientists at the University of Ilorin and their counterparts at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), are finalising arrangements to develop an improved rice variety with medicinal potentials against cancer. A report in the University of Ilorin Bulletin on Monday stated that this was the outcome of the collaboration between the …
The Federal government has stated that because of the conscientious efforts of the President Muhammdu Buhari-led administration, the country has just achieved the record of being the second largest producer of rice in the world. It also added that a recent survey revealed that because of the federal government's alternative …
Recent comparative product testing by city-based Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC), found traces of pesticides and heavy metals in six supposedly-organic brands of rice. Three brands of rice sold as organic had traces of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, and these were above the safe limit in two brands. All seven …
The current drought will cut rice production by half piling more pressure on the already worsening food crisis in the country. Mwea irrigation scheme, which accounts for 80 per cent of Kenya's rice production has now dried up. The National Irrigation Board (NIB) acting general manager Mugambi Gitonga said yields …
While outlining strategies to increase availability of pulses at affordable prices, it is argued that increasing domestic production of pulses is the only option. Access to one or two protective irrigation sources during the growing season can lead to sizeable increases in pulse production. The har khet ko paani initiative …
Attempts to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture must invariably rely on models that translate changes in climate to changes in agricultural outcomes. This need for models exists even when assessing the impacts of climate trends that have already occurred, since simultaneous changes in other factors that affect …
The rainfed areas receive mean annual precipitation in range of 500-1500 mm with high degree of variability and are beset with problems of mid-season drought and associated impacts on the crop productivity. In this paper, analysis of weekly, monthly, annual rainfall and weekly rainfall probabilities in relation to crop productivity …
Existing theory, empirical, clinical and field research all predict that reducing the virulence of individuals within a pathogen population will reduce the overall virulence, rendering disease less severe. Here, we show that this seemingly successful disease management strategy can fail with devastating consequences for infected hosts. We deploy cooperation theory …
As the effects of climate change set in, and population and income growth exert increasing pressure on natural resources, food security is becoming a pressing challenge for countries worldwide. Awareness of these threats is critical to transforming concern into long-term planning, and modeling tools like the one used in the …
The nature and timing of rice domestication and the development of rice cultivation in South Asia is much debated. In northern South Asia there is presently a significant gap (c.4200 years) between earliest evidence for the exploitation of wild rice (Lahuradewa c.6000 BCE) and earliest dated evidence for the utilisation …
Latest research on archaeological sites of the ancient Indus Civilisation, which stretched across what is now Pakistan and northwest India during the Bronze Age, has revealed that domesticated rice farming in South Asia began far earlier than previously believed, and may have developed in tandem with - rather than as …
UDF-led opposition staged a walkout from the assembly on Wednesday alleging government's failure in the distribution of ration commodities in the Malabar region. Food and civil supplies minister P Thilothaman said the latest crisis came out due to the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA). From November 14, …
CHENNAI: In what is being projected as a Deepavali gift, the Jayalalithaa government has decided to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from November 1, while continuing the Universal Public Distribution System that has been in force for the past decades. The State had several concerns over the proposals …
Flash floods are a recurrent phenomenon in the North Bank Plains Zone (NBPZ) of Assam, India, causing wide spread damage to rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop growing during Kharif season. Therefore, it is imperative to identify indigenous technical knowledge and integrate this with mainstream technologies, Maguri and not only to …
As climate change continues to alter our planet, humans will soon be forced to find new ways to feed the growing population. It’s estimated that the amount of food produced will have to double in order to meet the needs of over nine billion people that could occupy Earth in …
A team of researchers led by the University of Birmingham warns that without significant improvements in technology, global crop yields are likely to fall in the areas currently used for production of the world's three major cereal crops, forcing production to move to new areas. With a worldwide population projected …
