Rice is the second most widely consumed crop, next to wheat, in Afghanistan. Low national productivity, however, means that the country has had to import rice from Pakistan and Kazakhstan to meet local demand. Representatives from the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL) have signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) that is expected to boost rice production in the landlocked country.

Recognizing the disproportionate burden that climate change places on small island developing states (SIDS), FAO will support six African island nations in their efforts to make their agriculture more resilient to climate shocks and boost economic development, the agency said today. The $1.5 million project -- funded through the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund - will focus on a variety of activities to mitigate and adapt production to changing climate conditions, and make farming practices overall more efficient.

Farmers in southern Madagascar, hit by three years of devastating drought, urgently need more support so they can plant crops in time for the December and January planting seasons, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said today. They stressed that more funding is required to provide this support and help address southern Madagascar's worsening food insecurity.

University of Delaware student Jonathon Cottone knows the tell-tale signs that rice plants are getting sick: the yellowing leaves, the faint football-shaped lesions. Cottone, a junior from Wilmington, Delaware, is working with Harsh Bais, associate professor of plant and soil sciences at UD, on research to help this globally important grain cope with increasing stress.

A study conducted by researchers from Purdue University reveals that a global ban on genetically modified (GM) crops would raise food prices and add the equivalent of nearly a billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The researchers used a model to assess the economic and environmental value of GM crops, and found that replacing GM corn, soybeans,

This year World Antibiotic Awareness Week will be held from 14 to 20 November 2016. The campaign aims to increase awareness of global antibiotic resistance and to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers, policy-makers and the agriculture sector to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.

Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat was honored by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with an award and a dinner reception on November 4, for his “ardent support” of the Vietnam-IRRI collaboration. Dr. Phat, now vice chair of the Economics Commission of the Central Committee of Vietnam Communist Party, was a staunch supporter of IRRI’s work in Vietnam, conducted with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and other in-country partners.
 

- FAO is joining forces with the South Centre, an intergovernmental organization of developing countries, to help the countries of the Global South eliminate hunger and malnutrition, reduce poverty, address climate change and achieve sustainable rural development under the umbrella of South-South cooperation.

The 2016 World Life Science Conference (WLSC2016) with the theme Health, Agriculture, Environment was held on November 1-3, 2016 in Beijing, China. World-renowned life scientists, including 10 Nobel Laureates,  four World Food Prize and Wolf Prize in Agriculture winners, Royal Society President V. Ramakrishnan, US NAS President Marcia McNutt, and about 4,000 scientists and engineers from 36 countries attended the conference.

A new study conducted at the Salk Institute found molecular conductors that help plants respond to stress such as drought and salinity. The study suggests that during environmental stresses, a small group of proteins acts as conductors to manage the complex responses of plants to stress.