Researchers at the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Food are collaborating with industry to develop a natural, sustainable biocontrol which targets pests without harming honeybees and other beneficial pollinators By Sean Barton, University of Sheffield Estimated global crop loss to pests – including insects, plant viruses and fungi – is around $100 billion every year, equating to a 40 per cent loss in global agricultural productionNew pesticide alternative could help achieve food security whilst protecting vital pollinators A natural, sustainable alternative to pesticides that targets specific pests, without harming beneficial pollinators such as honeybees, is being developed with the…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
A new report finds no evidence of a current danger from microplastics, but the WHO urges further research. By Ashley P. Taylor The minuscule bits of plastic invisibly bobbing around in drinking water do not pose a threat to human health, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) assessment published August 21. Microplastics are those anywhere in size from 100 nanometers to 5 millimeters wide—though there’s no official definition. According to the WHO report, the plastic particles get into drinking water through run-off and wastewater effluent, and those found in bottled water may have something to do with the bottling…
Journalists, scientists and communications officer converged on Abuja, Nigeria to participate in a Science Café jointly organised by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa+ and the Nigerian chapter of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB). The 2018 ISAAA report on Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops was also launched at the Science Café, which held at Corinthia Villa Hotel. In his remarks, the Acting Director of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof. Alex Akpa said the delay in deployment of the technology in Nigeria is as a result…
The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) has released its 2018 Brief, with the news that Nigeria is the first country in the world to approve Bt cowpea. This was disclosed during Nigeria Science Café and the launch of the 2018 Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops in Abuja on Thursday. The Café was jointly organised by ISAAA, VIRCA Plus and Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB). The ISAAA AfriCenter Director, Dr Margaret Karembu, who presented the report, commended Nigeria’s progress in biotech crop development and adoption. She also noted that the country is a leader in agricultural technology approvals…
A Professor of Chemistry with the University of Ilorin, Mr Joshua Obaleye says his team hasld discovered anti-malaria, anti-cancer and anti-tuberculosis drugs that can be mass-produced to save lives. According to him, the team which he heads, had tested numerous world-class metal compounds from his laboratory for the treatment of various diseases. Obaleye said studies show that when a metal is attached with a pharmaceutical, it increases the efficacy of the drug. The don, who is also the President, America Chemical Society, Nigeria Chapter, and Chairman, Nigeria Chemical Society, Kwara State Chapter, said that he had no funding to commercialise…
The ‘Guidelines on the Nagoya Protocol for CGIAR Research Centers’ have been developed to help genebanks understand the legal requirements of moving plant genetic resources around the world. The movement of plant genetic resources between countries is governed by a veritable alphabet soup of treaties and agreements: ITPGRFA, CBD and SMTA for a start. But some agreements are such a mouthful that they’ve proved impossible to condense into acronyms. So, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity is, simply, the CBD’s Nagoya Protocol. “Sometimes CGIAR…
The Rice Compact of the African Development Bank-funded project on Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) is paving the way for rice transformation in sub-Saharan Africa by promoting locally-adapted high-yielding hybrid rice varieties developed by the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice).One such trailblazer is AR051H, which is the first hybrid rice variety released by the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA) in Senegal under the name ISRIZ-9 in 2017. With high yield potential of 11-13 t/ha, long slender grains and good milling quality, ISRIZ-9, is aromatic, a trait that is highly appreciated by Senegalese consumers.As a result of heterosis (hybrid vigor),…
The co-sponsors of the Ebola therapeutics trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have announced advances that will bring patients a better chance of survival. Two out of the four drugs being tested are more effective in treating Ebola. Moving forward, these are the only drugs that future patients will be treated with. Details of the changes are available in this WHO/NIAID/INRB release.This WHO initiative is the first-ever multi-drug randomized control trial aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of four drugs used for treatment of Ebola patients. Initially developed as a multi-outbreak, multi-country study, PALM (“Together save lives”)…
President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the National Biosafety Management Agency (Amendment) Act, 2019, with a view to preventing any adverse effect to human health and environment in the country. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on the National Assembly (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang, confirmed this development in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday. Enang said the bill amended the National Biosafety Management Agency Act No. 20, 2015 to enlarge the scope of application of the Act by including the emerging aspects of modern biotechnology and biosecurity in the country. The amended bill seeks to cover gene drive, gene…
By Jon Cohen If Gao Caixia were a farmer, she might be spread a little thin. Down the hall from her office at a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) here in Beijing, seeds from a strain of unusually soft rice and a variety of wheat with especially fat grains and resistance to a common fungus sprout in a tissue culture room. A short stroll away, wild tomato plants far hardier than domestic varieties but bearing the same sweet fruit crowd a greenhouse, along with herbicide-resistant corn and potatoes that are slow to brown when cut. In other…