SciDev.Net

Pakistan's Biological Safety Association has been reinvigorated with new powers in a drive to enhance biosafety regulations in the country.

Against expectations, West African rice varieties have interbred in the field — and war may have helped these improved hybrids spread.

Pests, disease and post-harvest problems are drastically reducing crop yields, a summit has heard, and quick technical fixes are a priority.

The Indian government will now consult the public before deciding whether to agree with regulators and approve GM aubergine.

Scientists and farmers from Peru and Ethiopia will defend agrobiodiversity through the exchange of scientific and traditional knowledge.

The African Biosafety Network of Expertise can now begin building African countries' biosafety knowhow in earnest.

Africa is starting to produce more food for its people by embracing farming technology, according to a new UN report.

South African researchers will soon begin field trials of a variety of maize capable of withstanding extreme dehydration.

A cassava virus rampant in southern Africa could be facing annihilation, thanks to genetic research in South Africa.

Crop yields will plummet and millions more children will go hungry unless agricultural practices adapt to climate change, warns a report.

Norman Borlaug, the scientist and humanitarian credited with leading the Green Revolution, which boosted food supplies in Asia, has died.

The devastating effect of blast fungus on rice paddies worldwide could be dampened by the discovery of a gene that makes plants resistant.

Researchers have found two genes which help rice survive long-term flooding, raising the possibility of higher yields in flood-prone areas.

Soybean farmers in Central and West Africa will soon have a variety resistant to an Asian fungal rust that can devastate their crops.

GM plants that are more salt tolerant could be good news for farmers in many regions of the world struggling with high salinity.

As African nations heat up, many could use maize varieties cultivated in hotter nations. Not so for a band of countries in the Sahel.

Studies in maize show that benign strains of the fungus Aspergillus can outcompete toxic forms that contaminate African crops.

A microbicide has shown promise in the lab and can be produced in plants — a double blow toHIV in the developing world, scientists say.

The WHO calls for rotavirus immunisation, the Narmada River harbours dysentery-causing bacteria, Jatropha eradicates toxic metals, and more.

A new GM technique can produce desired crop traits without transferring genes between species.