Author: J. Muthie

BY ABDALLAH EL-KUREBE Dr Rose Gidado, Country Coordinator of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), said the new rice variety on field trial as genetically modified crop would boost food security in Nigeria. She named the variety as the Nitrogen-use Efficient, Water-use Efficient and Salt Tolerant (NEWEST) rice project in Nigeria. According to her, NEWEST […]

BY DERESE TESHOME If one requests saying, “Should we be worried about losing our indigenous crops because of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)?” The answer is an outright No. A range of reasons can of course be cited along this line. As we have all read in newspapers, watched on television and heard in discussions on […]

Agricultural experts are making a case for adopting agricultural biotechnology as crop production remains insufficient for both local consumption and exportation yet Rwanda’s economy relies on agriculture. Plant or agricultural biotechnology bio-technology can be defined as the use of tissue culture and genetic engineering techniques to produce genetically modified plants that exhibit new or improved […]

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine comes at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs, as the global community is grappling with increasing climate shocks, conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rising cost of living, all of which are threatening livelihoods of hundreds of millions of poor and vulnerable people around the world. The Ukraine-Russia conflict […]

Uganda is fast-tracking the enactment of a biosafety law aimed at tapping into biotechnology for the country’s prosperity, a key biosafety forum in Kampala was told. The new bill will help the country to expand its biotechnology scope to include health, agriculture, and processing.  Martin Ongol, the acting executive secretary of Uganda National Council for […]

A project targeting eradication of late blight disease in potatoes has been launched in Jos, north central Nigeria. Global Biotechnology Potato Partnership (GBPP) project, under the USAID Feed the Future programme, is aimed at utilising cutting-edge research to promote a robust potato value chain through commercialisation of the 3 R-gene LBR tuber capable of improving […]

The Pod Borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea under cultivation in Nigeria is adjudged to be the best-performing variety in Africa, the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has said. Prof. Muhammed Ishiyaku, the IAR executive director, said the variety, also known as Sampea 20-T, was one of the best produced under scientific research. The […]

AATF will work with the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) to help smallholder farmers improve their living standards through smart agriculture.  Dr Canisius Kanangire, AATF Executive Director, said the partnership will provide farmers with technologies and skills to increase harvests and income from sale of surplus produce. “We work with national research organisations […]

[Nairobi, June 2022]:  African experts have called for capacity and institutional infrastructural development that can act as shock absorbers to minimise impacts on economies occasioned by global spikes in prices of fertilisers and basic commodities. The call to action was made by agricultural experts during a virtual meeting hosted by AATF to discuss current global […]

[Dakar, Senegal: July 7, 2022] AATF and the Government of Senegal, through the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA) and Union Nationale Interprofessionnelle des Semences du Sénégal (UNIS), have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at improving agricultural productivity in the West African nation. The partnership targets priority crops such as rice, maize, groundnuts, and […]