By investigating the bibliographic trends from research outputs about the consumer perception and genetically modified (GM) foods preference, researchers were not only able to identify links between GM food research and the countries that publish more about it than others, but they were also able to make policy recommendations based on the available data. A total of 543 journal articles published between 1981 and 2021 were used for the research.

To complement the adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops, experts recommend the conduct of national and international training courses, effective communication among key players, the adoption of bottom-up management, identifying experienced managers, involving experts in the planning and development stages of GM crops, and sharing of personal experiences to the audience to favorably change people's attitude towards GM crops.

The celebrations in Nairobi – home to the Institute’s regional offices in East and Southern Africa, build upon earlier festivities launched by the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi at ICRISAT’s global headquarters in Hyderabad, India in February. ICRISAT which won the Africa Food Prize in 2021, has an illustrious history of developing higher yielding and drought tolerant crop varieties, essential to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the semi-arid tropics.

Under the patronage of President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, IITA organized a planning conference for the Agenda for the Transformation of Agriculture in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ATA-DRC). The meeting took place at the “President Olusegun Obasanjo, IITA Research campus” in South Kivu from 23 to 25 February.

A team of researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom has developed a gene drive effector that can delay Plasmodium development in transgenic Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes using antimicrobial peptides in the midgut. This technique could be used to eliminate malaria under different transmission scenarios.

Recent advances in gene editing technology to control diseases in banana holds prospects to alleviate the industry, particularly to improve production, food security, and farmers' income. The banana industry of East Africa, the largest producer and consumer of bananas in the region, is constantly threatened by different banana bacterial diseases like moko, bugtok, blood, and, most destructive, the banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW).

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) scientists developed CRISPR-Kill, a new technique to remove the complete DNA of certain cell types to prevent the formation of specific organs during plant development. This technique is presented in Nature Communications. The research team, led by Prof. Holger Puchta, a molecular biologist at KIT and one of the co-developers of CRISPR-Cas for plants, developed CRISPR-Kill which induces multiple cuts in the genome.

Desert Locusts are ravenous eaters. Usually found in semi-arid and arid deserts of East Africa, the Near East and South-West Asia, they can form large swarms and pose a major threat to food security and local livelihoods. But what are Desert Locusts and what makes them such a threat exactly?

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and Gifu University reported that overexpression of unique cowpea NAC genes enhanced growth and seed yield in Arabidopsis. Their study is published in Plant Science. NAC proteins are one of the biggest groups of plant transcription factors (TFs) that are involved in diverse complex biological processes.

A paper published in Nature presents the resequencing of the sorghum genome, providing insights for the improvement of plant agroecological characteristics. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. (Moench)) is the world's fifth economically most important cereal and is a staple in the semi-arid tropics of Africa and Asia. Sorghum has gained popularity due to the rise in demand for gluten-free specialty grains rich in health-promoting and food oxidative stabilizing compounds.