The new VIB Fact Series issue, From Plant to Crop: The Past, Present and Future of Plant Breeding, outlines how the crops we know today were developed via diverse plant breeding techniques. Special attention is given to the New Breeding Technologies (NBT).

On April 30, the first Vietnamese bananas appeared on the shelves of the Japanese discount chain Don Quijote. Nguyễn Trung Dũng, a representative of the Vietnamese Embassy’s Trade Office in Japan, said about 15 tonnes of bananas exported by the Huy Long An company were sold at over 10 Don Quijote stores in Tokyo and nearby Saitama and Chiba prefectures.

The three-year initiative targeting women aged 15-49 years of reproductive age, and children aged 6−59 months, aims to develop a quick-to-cook porridge from at least four food groups, affordable for poor communities.

One of the world’s foremost organizations in the field of cereal science and technology has recognized the achievements of Matthew Morell, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The executive committee of the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC) Academy selected Morell to be a Fellow for his scientific work in biotechnology related to cereal grains and his research management in rice.

With just six weeks left before the start of the main cropping season in Ethiopia, FAO is calling for urgent funding to help farmers sow their fields and prevent drought-hit areas of the country from falling deeper into hunger and food insecurity. If seeds are not delivered in time, help will be too late to secure a decent harvest from the imminent meher season, which produces 85 percent of the nation's food supply, the UN agency said today.

A research team from Kobe University led by Associate Professor Miyake Chikahiro and PhD student Takagi Daisuke have reproduced the reaction in which harmful reactive oxygen species are created during plant photosynthesis, and clarified a mechanism behind plant withering. Plants depend on photosynthesis as an energy source, but when the light energy for photosynthesis is absorbed in excess, harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced.

A devastating livestock disease is continuing to extend its global reach and is now present in 76 countries. Georgia recently reported its first-ever case of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a viral disease which is capable of severely impacting goat and sheep populations, while a new outbreak has occurred in the Maldives, showing that even island states are vulnerable to the plague.

North Korea's total  food production - including cereals, soybeans and potatoes in cereal equivalent - is estimated to have fallen in 2015, the first drop since 2010, and is expected to worsen food security in the country, according to a FAO update issued today.

The Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, with the objective of giving voice to the emerging consciousness, channelling human energy toward environmental issues. Since then, technologies have also evolved to contribute towards food security, sustainability, and climate change mitigation.

FAO 25 April 2016 - In a bid to stay ahead of the negative impacts of climate change, floods and typhoons on food security, the Government of the Philippines and FAO have started using unmanned aerial drones to assess where farmlands are most at risk from natural disasters and quickly assess damages after they strike.