SciDev.Net

Six developing countries now devote over one million hectares each to GM crops, says a report.

Ecologists say Thailand's deadly outbreak of brown planthoppers has been caused by farmers' response to high rice prices .

China has boosted its agricultural patents in the last decade but this success does not extend to international applications.

India's budget includes an US$86 million plan to encourage its eastern drylands flourish and a huge increase in solar energy funding.

A declaration has listed ways of safeguarding the contribution of biodiversity to rural livelihoods and climate adaptation.

Two deadly banana diseases are notoriously hard to detect — now seven African nations are setting up a surveillance system.

African farmers can boost crop yields despite climate change if they invest in practices such as effective fertiliser use, says a study.

Water shortages are severe in the Middle East but farmers are set to benefit from a programme designed to make every drop count.

China plans to start farming genetically modified crops on an industrial scale, according to its first policy missive of 2010.

Rwanda is distributing climbing beans that are disease-resistant and high-yielding, and they are already proving a hit with farmers.

A researcher has calculated the impact that access to a phone has on incomes — and therefore schooling — in rural Peru.

Researchers say that China's effective water management techniques produce more food than those of many other countries.

Farmers in West Africa have asked for a broader scope to agricultural research, a focus on local crops and a better grasp of farmers' needs

Traditional knowledge surrounding the cultivation of Peru's giant maize has been designated 'cultural heritage'

Egypt is set to test wheat strains that don't succumb to Ug99, a deadly wheat fungus blighting crops worldwide.

Solar-powered water pumps mean more vegetables — and more money — for farmers in Benin, researchers find.

India must harness resilient local species to aid adaptation to climate change, says a farmers' jury, and focus less on hybrid seeds.

There are grounds for optimism in the battle against a lethal coffee plant fungus as Ugandan scientists roll out a disease-resistant variety.

Monsoon floods wash away up to two-thirds of the arsenic in affected soil, boosting efforts to target arsenic mitigation.

Rich and poor nations have teamed up to research how agriculture can meet soaring world food demands without increasing emissions.