By 2030, about 55% of the Asia-Pacific region is expected to reside in urban areas, which could impact urban food security and nutrition. This finding is according to the United Nations report titled Asia-Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 – Urban Food Systems and Nutrition. Though the risk is projected in the future, warning signs are already evident at present.

Scientists at the University of California Riverside (UC Riverside) have successfully decoded previously unknown signals that plants send to themselves to initiate photosynthesis. Led by UCR botany professor Meng Chen, the research team found four proteins containing building blocks that trigger photosynthesis. Chen's team has previously shown that certain proteins in plant nuclei are activated by light, kicking off photosynthesis.

ISAAA Inc., in partnership with Winrock International through the Building Safe Agricultural Food Enterprises (B-SAFE) Project, will hold the webinar on Biotechnology Applications and Impact on the Philippine Livestock Industry on January 31, 2023, at 10:00 AM (GMT+8). The registration is now open. The online event is part of a webinar series to raise awareness of the general public on the impact of livestock and fishery biotechnology. It also aims to highlight the current opportunities and potential benefits of trait improvements related to food and agriculture and resilience to climate change.

When women are more involved in the workforce, the dietary diversity of their households improves. The extra time that women use at work does not have adverse effects on their health. Women’s paid and unpaid work impacts dietary diversity in different ways: paid work results in financial independence and empowerment in household decision-making that allows women to diversify diets. Unpaid work increases the number of food groups produced by women for consumption by their households.

Close to the border of Guinea Bissau, two small villages recently started resettling efforts after having left their homes abandoned for more than 30 years. The villages of Bissine and Singhere were among the strongest affected by the separatist Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance in southern Senegal in the 1990s. Severe security issues remained until 2021 when de-mining activities by Humanity & Inclusion, an NGO, and the government made the zone safe for resettlement.

Asia’s cities are growing at such a fast pace that nearly 55 percent of the region’s enormous population is expected to reside in urban areas by 2030, and that will have equally enormous consequences for urban food security and nutrition, according to the main findings of a new report by four United Nations agencies. But the threat is not only a future concern, the results are being felt now, according to the ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022 – Urban Food Systems and Nutrition’.

China's Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture has received biosafety certificates for genetically modified (GM) corn and soybean seeds. These approvals will pave the way for the commercial cultivation of the GM seeds. The GM corn was developed in partnership with the Biotechnology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It exhibits significant resistance to main corn pests and can tolerate four times the normal dosage of glyphosate herbicide.

ISAAA Inc., in partnership with Winrock International through the Building Safe Agricultural Food Enterprises (B-SAFE) Project, will hold the webinar on Biotechnology Applications and Impact on the Philippine Livestock Industry on January 31, 2023, at 10:00 AM (GMT+8). The registration is now open. The online event is part of a webinar series to raise awareness of the general public on the impact of livestock and fishery biotechnology.

A team of researchers from the University of Missouri and partners reported efficient CRISPR-Cas9-based cytosine base editors for phytopathogenic bacteria. The results are published in Communications Biology. Phytopathogenic have crucial functions in plant productivity. The advances in gene editing could help improve the genetic tools used in the identification of vital genes in the pathogenesis process.

A new study from the University of Sheffield reveals that genetically modifying rice for better salt tolerance could allow it to be grown in places it would otherwise fail, making the crop adapted to survive in environments that have become harsher due to climate change and also help tackle global food insecurity. As sea levels rise as a result of climate change, saltwater floods more land and destroys crops that cannot cope with increased salinity.