SciDev.Net

East Africa must adopt alternative farming techniques to combat the crop losses projected for 2050, a study says.

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.

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.

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.

Co-planting an acacia variety with crops delivers timely natural fertiliser as well as cutting erosion and supplying wood for domestic use.

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

Swarms of red locusts in Tanzania have been destroyed by the application of a biopesticide containing fungal spores.

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

West African researchers are working with farmers to develop rice that will thrive on their iron-rich soils.

A project to genetically engineer cassava to provide a day's nutrition in one meal has progressed with the approval of initial field trials.

Kenya has become the fourth African country to allow genetically modified farming after the president signed off on new biosafety legislation.

Nigerian farmers are selling more seeds of parasite-resistant, yield-boosting maize crops than official distribution channels.

Kenya's parliament expects to approve its much-delayed biosafety bill before the Christmas break.

Biotechnology will not offer the full solution to Africa's food problems, warn scientists at the All Africa Congress on Biotechnology.

A UN report cites a lack of emphasis on agricultural research in development policy as a key reason for African farming problems.

Agricultural research advances in Africa — including seeds that can improve crop yields — are not reaching farmers, say top scientists.

A senior African Union official has urged African leaders to allow commercial growing of GM crops.