African governments need to exert more effort to put in place viable legislation and investments that promote agricultural biotechnologies and address food insecurity. This was one of the recommendations put forward during the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa held from November 22 to 24, 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have developed and grown modified Cavendish bananas that are resistant to the devastating soil-borne fungus Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (TR4), also known as Panama disease. Led by Distinguished Professor James Dale from QUT's Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities, the field trial, which ran from 2012 to 2015 was conducted on a commercial banana plantation that was previously affected by TR4. The soil was heavily reinfested with disease for the trial.

Dr. Mahaletchumy Arujanan, Executive Director of the Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre, and Muthu Singaram of VibaZone Private Limited in Malaysia, discussed the landscape of biotechnology and bioeconomy in Malaysia in a review article published in New Biotechnology journal.

The top leaves of crops absorb far more light than they can use, starving lower leaves of light. Scientists designed plants with light green leaves with hopes of allowing more light to penetrate the crop canopy and increase overall light use efficiency and yield. This strategy was tested in a recent modeling study that found leaves with reduced chlorophyll content do not actually improve canopy-level photosynthesis, but instead, conserve a significant amount of nitrogen that the plant might be able to reinvest to improve light use efficiency and increase yield.

The office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) of Australia has released "Community Attitudes to Gene Technology," a report on the 2017 study of public attitudes towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs), gene technology and its regulation. The overall finding of the 2017 survey is that attitudes to GMOs have settled, mirroring very closely the results from the 2015 study, and not showing the degree of change seen between previous studies.

Cotton stakeholders in Nigeria have agreed that Bt cotton has the potential to revive the deteriorating cotton textile industry in the country. A stakeholders meeting held in Abuja on November 8, 2017 attended by representatives from seed companies, government ministries, agencies, and farmers resolved that embracing Bt cotton is a viable way of addressing cotton farming challenges.

Understanding which agricultural practices work best, and where, to halt the impacts of climate change is one thing. But making sure those practices are adopted by communities – farmers, decision and policy makers – is another thing. The process of getting better practices to more people – “scaling up” innovations to make agriculture more climate-smart – has baffled many development practitioners. Some approaches work on a small scale, but suddenly on a larger scale, everything changes.

Do you ever contemplate climate change over your morning cup of coffee?

Probably not. But perhaps it is time that you did.

The tropical storms that recently hit the U.S. and Caribbean in quick and brutal succession have brought the impacts of climate change closer to home for many of us in the developed world. Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico, wiping out nearly 80 percent of the value of the country’s crops.

Efforts to confront the spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens on farms and in food systems are gathering momentum, thanks to strong backing by governments and technical support that is boosting national capacities to respond to the problem, FAO said today.

Citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas citri subp. Citri (Xcc), is a serious disease in citrus-producing areas. While different levels of resistance to the disease have been reported, they are not sufficient to provide disease control. Overexpression of antibacterial genes is a potential way to increase plant resistance. Previous studies showed that sarcotoxin IA, an antimicrobial peptide from the flesh fly (Sarcophaga peregrina), can be efficient to control different plant pathogenic bacteria.