Active cell division takes place in the tip of a plant's root, where different zones work together to expand into new depths of the soil. Optimal root growth rate is important for plant survival and maximizing resource allocation to important plant parts. This is why root-expansion mechanisms are of great interest to scientists and to those interested in improving agricultural yields.

Delegates from 30 countries from around the world, attending an international Agri-biotech and Biosafety Communication conference in Nairobi have called on the Kenya Government to lift a 2-year ban on GMO imports.  Addressing the delegates comprising of farmers, scientists, policy makers, private sector, the media and science communicators, the Principal Secretary in Kenya’s Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development, Dr, Wilson Songa emphasized the role of agricultural biotechnology in propelling the country towards prosperity.

The Village Dynamics in South Asia (VDSA) project of ICRISAT is at an inflection point where it is evolving from collecting micro-level data from households to informing decision makers, donors and driving research priorities.

FAO 14 April, Rome/Daegu - In 2050 there will be enough water to help produce the food needed to feed a global population expected to top nine billion, but overconsumption, degradation and the impact of climate change will reduce water supplies in many regions, especially developing countries, FAO and the World Water Council (WWC) have warned in a paper published today.

In March, I was proud to take part in the opening ceremony for Bioversity International’s office and India’s first ever genetic garden in Bengaluru. Bengaluru is the capital of Karnataka State in India, close to the Western Ghats – one the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots.

FAO 10 April 2015, Daegu/Rome/Washington, D.C. - FAO, UNESCO, the World Bank, GEF and the International Association of Hydrogeologists have today called for action by the global community to manage the increasingly urgent depletion and degradation of limited groundwater resources.
 

ISAAA AfriCenter, in collaboration with EMBRAPA - Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and SCIFODE who are implementing an Africa-Brazil Marketplace project, organized a study tour to Brazil. Twenty-nine (29) participants  from 5 African countries (Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda) joined the tour. The African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) was also involved as co-organizer of the tour.

A new study led by University of California Davis (UC Davis) suggests that the built-in immunity of rice can be boosted further when the plant receives a receptor protein from a completely different plant species. Led by Benjamin Schwessinger, the UC Davis team successfully transferred the gene for an immune receptor from the model plant Arabidopsis into rice.

World Health Organization (WHO) highlights the challenges and opportunities related food safety during the celebration of the World Health Day on April 7, 2015. This year's theme is "From farm to plate, make food safe."

Driscoll et al. (1) have recently drawn attention to the risk of new pasture plants becoming invasive, because the same biological traits that promote pasture productivity may also facilitate the invasion of natural areas. The authors indicate some aspects that could mitigate the risk of invasion: namely, the use of native species to develop new pasture plants, the avoidance of new characteristics associated with environmental weeds, and the selection of new characteristics that limit invasion risk.