Nigeria is ready to become the first country to plant insect resistant cowpeas after almost 15 years of study.

"The cowpea growers have been very supportive. They like the GM crop. They have seen it perform and they are ready to grow it," said Issoufou Kollo Abdourhamane, manager of the Bt cowpea project at the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

Malnourished children under two in rural Malawi whose mothers were trained in diet diversity, hygiene and food safety have shown significant improvements of their nutrition and health in just three weeks. The study  published in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition, Cambridge University Press (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980017003652), on January 17, 2018, demonstrates the rapid impact a properly designed nutrition education intervention can have.

The Symposium Objectives: Enrich and widen your knowledge on hybrid rice. Learn about latest research, developments, and breakthroughs, and network with various stakeholders in the rice industry at the International Hybrid Rice Symposium 2018. The symposium gathers hybrid rice researchers from many parts of the world, as well as experts and representatives from the public and private sectors.

Jitendra Nath Sarkar, a 60-year-old farmer in Kurigram District of Rangpur in the northern part of Bangladesh, is all too familiar with the nourishing nature of the rain and rivers—and the frighteningly destructive force of their raging floodwaters.

Ethylene-responsive factor 8 (ERF8), a member of AP2/ERF superfamily, is one of the transcription factors involved in repression of leaf senescence in plants. Leaf senescence is the final stage of leaf development and involves the mobilization of nutrients from old leaves to newly growing tissue. Regulation of leaf senescence depends on the developmental age of plants, and it is also influenced by various external stimuli.

Scientists at the University of Queensland (UQ) got the inspiration to develop the world's first 'speed breeding' procedures from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) experiments that involved using continuous light on wheat triggering early reproduction in the plants.

The American Farm Bureau Federation's 2018 Annual Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee on January 5-10, 2018 was addressed by the US President Donald J. Trump. On January 8, the President said, "We are streamlining regulations that have blocked cutting-edge biotechnology, setting free our farmers to innovate, thrive, and to grow.

Northern corn leaf blight causes major yield losses if not detected and treated early. Resistance genes have been identified in corn, but the fungal disease has found ways to sneak around the plant's defenses. Now, researchers have figured out how the fungus is outsmarting corn, and this information may help corn fight back.

The central province of Bình Thuận, which has more than 9,500 ha of dragon fruit cultivated under VietGAP (Vietnam Good Agricultural Practices) standards, plans to expand the area to 9,800ha this year, according to the province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department. With more than 27,600ha of dragonfruit and 262ha for GlobalGAP, Bình Thuận Province has the largest area allocated to the fruit in the country, with annual output topping more than 550,000 tonnes, Mai Kiều, director of the department, said in a local conference on January 15.

Fifty years ago, economists and population experts predicted millions were about to die from famine. India and other Asian countries were expected by scholars like Paul Ehrlich in The Population Bomb to be especially hard hit in the 1970s and 1980s, given the region’s high population growth rates. South Asia braced for mass starvation as hunger and malnutrition spread while multiple droughts plagued India and neighboring countries – but it never happened.