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 …
CHENNAI: Rapid industrialisation during the last few centuries have increased greenhouse gas emissions, leading to global warming. Added to this, there are other climate-related issues due to urbanisation and pollution. While high economic growth rates in China and India have increased the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, simultaneous increases …
This publication shares the challenges, lessons learned, and cases of success by partner countries in the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE). The book also offers insights into drivers of change and enabling factors (social, cultural, economic, environmental, and others) that helped partner countries benefit from technologies and make an …
DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) -- Tanzania and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday launched three rice projects in Tanzania aimed at increasing competitiveness and improving the post-harvest value chain. The 4.5-million-Euro project is expected to benefit more than 30,000 smallholder farmers in eastern and southern Tanzania’s regions of Morogoro …
A crop munching worm that can fly up to 100 km (60 miles) at night is spreading rapidly across Africa, threatening food production and the livelihoods of millions of farmers already struggling with conflicts and drought, experts said on Friday. The larvae form of fall armyworm prefers maize, but can …
A new study reveals a rise in temperature could devastate rice yields in West Africa’s Sahel region A new modeling study published warns that the dry-season irrigated rice in West Africa’s Sahel region has reached the critical threshold of 37 degrees Celsius – the tipping point. Further temperature rise could …
Flood is a well-known phenomenon in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta (MRD). Although people have experienced the impact of floods for years, some adapt well, but others are vulnerable to floods. Resilience to floods is a useful concept to study the capacity of rural households to cope with, adapt to, …
The present paper investigated the extent of the flood propagation in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta under different projected flood hydrographs, considering the 2000 flood event as the basis for computation. The analysis herein was done to demonstrate the particular complexity of the flood dynamics, which was simulated by the 1-D …
According to experts, no seed variety is to be used continuously for more than a decade Unscientific use of single variety of paddy seeds by farmers for more than a decade is the key reason behind the large-scale destruction of standing crops by pests like brown planthopper in Odisha, the …
MANGALURU: As finance minister Arun Jaitley is busy giving final touches to the Union Budget for 2018-19, an ASSOCHAM-EY joint paper has said that nearly 4% of India's GDP is estimated to have been lost due to malnutrition and certainly women and children deserve a better deal in expenditure outlay, …
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in 2016 adversely affected Vietnam particularly the Mekong River Delta (MRD), where more than 90% of the country’s rice export is produced annually. To address this and prepare for future climate risks, the Department of Crop Production (DCP), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) …
This study is the first of its kind to quantify possible effects of climate change on rice production in Africa. We simulated impacts on rice in irrigated systems (dry season and wet season) and rainfed systems (upland and lowland). We simulated the use of rice varieties with a higher temperature …
A study has warned that the dry-season irrigated rice in West Africa’s Sahel region has reached the critical threshold of 37 degrees Celcius – the tipping point. It added that further temperature rise could devastate rice yields in the region due to decreasing photosynthesis at high temperatures. According to the …
Nagpur: Amid paddy growers of east Vidarbha reeling under a major pest attack, some of them who have adopted organic farming claim they could prevent losses in their fields using natural pesticides. They had gathered at a meet organized in the city by Bijotsav — an organization promoting organic agriculture. …
Chinese researchers have found a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) that can be used to cultivate high-manganese, low-cadmium rice, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) said in a statement Tuesday. According to Qian Qian, chief expert and researcher in the field at CAAS, people often have an inadequate intake …
Without a renewed commitment to policy change, commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs) are by 2030 set to lag behind countries with more diverse economies in their social and economic achievements, UNCTAD and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said in a report. The Commodities and Development Report …
A critical question for agricultural production and food security is how water demand for staple crops will respond to climate and carbon dioxide (CO2) changes, especially in light of the expected increases in extreme heat exposure. To quantify the trade-offs between the effects of climate and CO2 on water demand, …
Moisture response functions for soil microbial carbon (C) mineralization remain a critical uncertainty for predicting ecosystem-climate feedbacks. Theory and models posit that C mineralization declines under elevated moisture and associated anaerobic conditions, leading to soil C accumulation. Yet, iron (Fe) reduction potentially releases protected C, providing an under-appreciated mechanism for …
Introducing genes for herbicide resistance into a crop permits it to be sprayed with weedkiller that really does then kill nothing but weeds. But that works only until the weeds themselves develop resistance to the poison. One way this can happen is through crossbreeding with the crop originally protected—a risk …
While food commodity prices have been generally stable, the cost of importing food is forecast to rise six per cent in 2017 to $1.413 trillion, making it the second highest bill on record, according to the latest Food Outlook published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), expressing concern …
From Aztec pigweed to dragon beans - several ancient, often forgotten foods are making their way to the dinner table in an effort to diversify the diet of a growing global population. In an initiative to cut the world's dependency on major crops like wheat and rice - Britain's Prince …
