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Agriculture & Environment: Food security

Features

Here is a list of the latest articles

Achim Steiner

Q&A: Achim Steiner on expectations for Rio+20

SciDev.Net speaks to UN Environment Programme executive director Achim Steiner at the Eye on Earth Summit (12-15 December) about next year's Rio+20.

Source: SciDev.Net Conference Service

15 December 2011 | EN

Google Map

The sense and sensitivity of technology for all

New technologies offer the promise of delivering environmental information to anyone who wants it, anywhere in the world. But we are not quite there yet.

Source: SciDev.Net Conference Service

14 December 2011 | EN

Cow

'iCow': helping farmers make the most of their cattle

An organic farmer has invented a mobile phone application called 'iCow', which lets farmers register their herds and receive expert advice.

29 November 2011 | EN

Daya Bay nuclear power plant

China urged to take technological risk more seriously

The recent nuclear scare in Japan has reinforced pressure in China to raise its awareness of the risks of new technologies. Li Jiao reports.

12 August 2011 | EN | 中文

Wheat

Could crop ancestors feed the world?

Researchers hope Syria's wild plant varieties could help in the quest to boost crop yields.

Source: COSMOS Magazine

26 April 2011 | EN

Maize

GM on the rise in Africa

Faced with increasing pressure to grow food, and with growing support to test biotechnology, more African countries may start cultivating GM crops.

Source: Reuters

12 April 2011 | EN

Close-up of plant

Updating photosynthesis to boost crop yields

Engineering plants to convert carbon dioxide into food more efficiently could play a key role in increasing crop yields, scientists say.

Source: New Scientist

25 February 2011 | EN

Southern Sudanese woman

Sowing the seeds of agricultural research in Southern Sudan

Southern Sudan is rebuilding its agricultural research from scratch, but can it attract the diaspora back to help? Paul Jimbo reports.

10 December 2010 | EN

 Maíz fortificado con betacaroteno

Biofortified crops ready for developing world debut

A range of crops rich in micronutrients will be launched from next year, but is the developing world ready, asks Tatum Anderson?

17 November 2010 | EN | ES

Cracked earth at edge of lake

Water security and climate change: Facts and figures

Climate change will affect the water security of developing countries. Lucinda Mileham explores their priorities as they struggle to cope.

15 September 2010 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

Cassava

A quiet cassava revolution

The development of more nutritious cassava varieties — using non-GM methods — could alleviate malnutrition in the developing world.

Source: Scientific American

14 May 2010 | EN | ES

Wheat stem rust

The race is on to stop the red menace fungus: Ug99

As Ug99, the deadly fungus blighting African wheat, marches eastward, scientists across the globe are scrambling for ways to outsmart it.

Source: Wired

30 March 2010 | EN

Rainmakers and meteorologists get together

The marriage of science and rainmakers

Kenyan meteorologists are joining forces with traditional rainmakers to deliver communities weather forecasts as climate change takes hold.

Source: The Independent

5 March 2010 | EN

A Ladakh woman farming

Farming high in a Himalayan desert

With artificial glaciers and more, a Himalayan region is regaining food self-sufficiency, writes Surabhi Pudasaini.

22 February 2010 | EN

Man with Golden Rice

Can GM crops feed the hungry?

GM crops were supposed to rescue the world's one billion undernourished people. Carol Campbell discusses whether they will ever curb hunger.

20 January 2010 | EN | ES | FR | 中文

A revolution to combat world hunger

Ambitious reforms aimed at meeting the world's food demands lie ahead for the agency that networks agricultural research in poor regions.

24 September 2009 | EN | 中文

Roadblocks on the path to GM superfoods

Nutrient-rich foods could combat malnutrition — but getting from the lab to the plate is proving a challenge.

Source: The Scientist

17 September 2009 | EN | 中文

Ethiopia's sorghum superhero

An agricultural scientist whose work in sorghum improvement has benefited African farmers has won the World Food Prize.

Source: World Food Prize

22 June 2009 | EN

Farming without soil

Is hydroponics — a system using no soil and very little water — a route to increased food security? Some Cape Verdean farmers think so.

Source: IRIN

6 March 2009 | EN

Florence Wambugu at the African Green Revolution Conference

Q&A: African Agriculture with Florence Wambugu

Florence Wambugu, winner of the 2008 YARA prize for African agriculture, speaks to SciDev.Net about the challenges facing the field.

4 September 2008 | EN | FR

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