SciDev.Net

The sequencing of the maize genome should boost efforts to find higher-yielding and climate change-proof varieties.

A report released at the 2nd Africa Water Week warns that climate change is putting the continent's water resources at risk.

East Africa must adopt alternative farming techniques to combat the crop losses projected for 2050, a study says.

A farming research centre is set to open in Mozambique with funding, seeds and advice from China.

Food production in China's Yangtze River Basin faces a dire future but new growing techniques could compensate.

Jamaica and four other Caribbean countries have been granted US$1.7 million to reduce the biodiversity threat of invasive alien species.

South African researchers have lodged an appeal against their government's rejection of a genetically modified potato.

Pork tapeworm is responsible for almost a third of epileptic fits, researchers say.

Pests, disease and post-harvest problems are drastically reducing crop yields, a summit has heard, and quick technical fixes are a priority.

Scientists and farmers from Peru and Ethiopia will defend agrobiodiversity through the exchange of scientific and traditional knowledge.

Local knowledge forms the backbone of a programme in Benin that aims to help farmers adapt to the effects of climate change.

Africa is starting to produce more food for its people by embracing farming technology, according to a new UN report.

South African researchers will soon begin field trials of a variety of maize capable of withstanding extreme dehydration.

A cassava virus rampant in southern Africa could be facing annihilation, thanks to genetic research in South Africa.

Crop yields will plummet and millions more children will go hungry unless agricultural practices adapt to climate change, warns a report.

Scientists have urged the UN's desertification convention to unite research on land degradation and so convince policymakers to take action.

Norman Borlaug, the scientist and humanitarian credited with leading the Green Revolution, which boosted food supplies in Asia, has died.

Tomatoes fertilised with urine flourish, say researchers, but the method's acceptance in the developing world is uncertain.

China's air pollution could be damaging its agriculture as scientists find aerosols reduce the amount of light rain.

Co-planting an acacia variety with crops delivers timely natural fertiliser as well as cutting erosion and supplying wood for domestic use.