SciDev.Net

The first drought-tolerant maize varieties developed by the Asian Maize Network, established to tackle poor harvests, are showing promise.

A mutant strain of drought-resistant wheat is contributing to Kenya's food security, enabling the use of land previously unsuited to cultivation.

Tanzania's land is gradually being reclaimed, thanks to a new regional development programme and improved land management systems.

The UN supports forest protection in the next climate agreement, but questions on how to tackle deforestation are still being debated.

Climate change and overgrazing near Lake Hovsgol in northern Mongolia may cause irreversible damage to the surrounding ecosystem.

Climate change threatens food crops across the world. Now scientists are re-focusing their efforts on crop resilience, rather than yields.

Traditional healers are joining forces with plant chemists in Kenya to develop antimalarials isolated from plants, reports Tatum Anderson.

Brazil's successful sugarcane ethanol industry owes much to massive investment in infrastructure and research, reports Carla Almeida.

Biofuel holds promise for Africa but research is not yet in place to fully reap the rewards, or analyse the pitfalls, reports Kimani Chege.

Local efforts to put an end to aflatoxin outbreaks are helping groundnut farmers back to prosperity, reports Charles Mkoka.

An eminent Indian scientist believes India can close the urban-rural divide with information technology, writes Daemon Fairless.

Despite pest and pricing worries, many Asian farmers welcome GM crops. Jia Hepeng heard their stories during a farmers' exchange programme.

Many Indians have pinned their hopes on the jatropha plant as a source of biofuel that doesn't harm food security, writes Daemon Fairless.

Current models cannot properly predict monsoon rainfall in Asia — or how it will be affected by global warming, writes Jagadish Shukla.

Anthony Patt, Laban Ogallo, and Molly Hellmuth look back over ten years of Climate Outlook Forums for rainfall prediction in Africa.

The rapid growth of technology parks in the Arab world has so far created more expectations than outcomes, reports Waleed Al-Shobakky.

The Quinghai-Tibet railway has now been open for over a year. Jane Qiu evaluates its success and examines the challenges it still faces.

The UN wants Afghanistan's opium industry destroyed, but legalisation could provide a new source of analgesics for the developing world.

The palm oil industry needs to prove its sustainability and is turning to scientists for ways to minimise harm, reports Richard Stone.

Controlling the amount of pollution that goes into China's Taihu Lake is the key to managing the algal blooms, writes Lucie Guo.