Chickpeas may soon be added to the list of vitamin A-enriched crops. Vitamin A has been proven to enhance brain function, improve sight and skin health, and slow down aging. According to Bunyamin Tar'an, professor at the University of Saskatchewan and chickpea breeder, chickpeas are a well-known source of protein and minerals in many countries and used as meat substitute.

The 2016 annual report on Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops (ISAAA Brief 52) has been launched in Cameroon and Malawi. The report was also virtually launched in Nairobi, Kenya on June 13, 2017. In Cameroon, the report was presented during the African Biosafety Service Providers coordination meeting in Yaounde on May 4, 2017 and attended by workshop participants and 10 Cameroonian journalists. It was presided over by Dr. David Mbah, Executive Secretary of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences.

The global bioengineered food market is expected to increase with an annual growth rate of ~5% from 2016-2023, according to the report of Occams Business Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. The growth of the global bioengineered food market is mainly attributed to the increasing number of approvals of bioengineered food in many countries, among other factors.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is drafting a decree to remove bottlenecks for domestic rice exporters, especially small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The decree, replacing Decree 109/2010/NĐ-CP on rice export and business, is expected to take effect from January 1, 2018, after which businesses will be able to engage in the free trade of rice without quantitative restrictions.

Ensuring young people in rural areas can access financing and earn decent incomes is essential to stem migration to Europe and elsewhere, said Gilbert F. Houngbo, who began his term as the sixth President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today.

While these remarks are specific to the Philippines, they equally apply to all countries currently mired at an average yield of some 4 tons per hectare. Whereas high-yielding varieties emanating from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) had a sudden and large impact beginning in the mid-1960s, yield improvement in subsequent decades has come largely from farmer initiatives with little contribution from research. The increase in yield to something over 2 tons per hectare attributed to IR8 (see IR8—a rice variety for the ages) and subsequent semidwarf varieties is well known.

With the clock ticking toward the 2030 deadline for meeting the international goals to eradicate hunger and poverty, Ministries of Agriculture in five of the world's most important emerging economies are well positioned to take a leading role in helping to achieve these objectives, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization said today.

Rothamsted Research - Arbuscular mycrorrhizal fungi, which attack plant roots and then aid the plant in nutrient absorption, get their carbon needs from their plant hosts in the form of long-chain fatty acids, a building block for essential lipids. This is according to the discovery of plant scientists from Rothamsted Research and John Innes Center, which was published in the journal Science.

The Federation of Crop Science Societies gathered around 450 crop researchers from different regions of the Philippines for its 24^th Scientific Conference in Diversion21 Hotel, Iloilo City on June 13-17, 2017. The conference aims to tackle crop research and its importance in facing climate change and globalization, focusing on its theme: Healthy and safe food production in response to climate change and globalization.

On June 8, 2017, Brazil's Comissão Técnica Nacional de Biossegurança (CTNBio, or National Biosafety Technical Commission) has approved the commercial use of the first genetically modified (GM) Bt sugarcane (Bt Sugarcane), CTC 20 BT, developed by the Brazilian company Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC). Bt Sugarcane, the first GM sugarcane approved for cultivation in the world, is resistant to damages caused by sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis), the main pest of sugarcane in Brazil.