Planet Diversity World Congress on the Future of Food and Agriculture

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01.01.1970

Hope for abaca exports rests on non-GE disease-resistant varieties

Dr. Anton Lalusin of the University of the Philippines Los Baños Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) is conducting research on breeding abaca plants that are Bunchy-top virus-resistant. ?I chose to focus on the bunchy-top virus because it is the deadliest among the three viruses.? [...] Lalusin?s study focuses on breeding Bunchy-top resistant abaca plants by developing molecular markers to acquire the virus resistance it needs and at the same time the superior quality of the fiber.

01.01.1970

Ventria?s pharmaceutical rice fields are flourishing

There?s at least one crop in Kansas that is benefiting from the prolonged wet spring and the humid, hot early summer. The Ventria Bioscience pharmaceutical rice fields in Geary County are flourishing. [...] ?By December, we should be capable of five times the current production and by next summer, we should be at complete build-out,? he said. ?For now, we?re just trying to keep pace with customer orders.? The demand is for Ventria?s primary product -- a protein supplement that when added to oral rehydration solutions reduces the severity and duration of infant and childhood diarrhea.

01.01.1970

U.S. rice farmers file class-action lawsuit against Riceland Foods

Riceland Foods Inc. in Stuttgart subjected the state?s rice farmers to an ?ultrahazardous risk? when it experimented with genetically modified rice that contaminated the commercial supply, a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges. Arkansas? more than 4,000 rice farmers were adversely affected when the European Union began refusing Arkansas rice in 2006 after the genetically modified strain, Liberty Link, contaminated the state?s exports, according to the lawsuit filed in Lonoke County Circuit Court.

01.01.1970

Get biotechnology on the agenda for Africa

Leaders at the Group of Eight industrialized nations? summit in Hokkaido next month need to take strong measures to promote cooperation in using biotechnology to address Africa?s food challenges. At present there is resistance from Europe, and even Japan is dragging its feet on this vital issue. Critics often argue that using modern biotechnology in African agriculture would harm farmers, wreck the environment and expose consumers to unknown risks. But by failing to adopt biotechnology, Africa puts its poor populations at greater risk of starvation. Without substantial investment in biotechnology to address critical challenges such as drought, Africa will continue to experience food deficits.

01.01.1970

Fortified GE cassava could provide a day?s nutrition in a single meal

Scientists have determined how to fortify the cassava plant, a staple root crop in many developing countries, with enough vitamins, minerals and protein to provide the poor and malnourished with a day?s worth of nutrition in a single meal. The researchers have further engineered the cassava plant so it can resist the crop?s most damaging viral threats and are refining methods to reduce cyanogens, substances that yield poisonous cyanide if they are not properly removed from the food before consumption. The reduction of cyanogens also can shorten the time it takes to process the plant into food, which typically requires three to six days to complete.

01.01.1970

Can Monsanto?s Bovine Growth Hormone help slow global warming?

Industry scientists say bovine growth hormone can by reducing the number of greenhouse-gas-emitting cows as it increases the remaining ruminants? output
Talk about milking an issue. Adding a new twist to the debate over the safety of hormones in milk, a new industry study concludes that injecting cows with a growth hormone known as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) designed to increase their milk production is environmentally friendly. Why? Because it has the potential of reducing the number of greenhouse gas?emitting dairy cows on the planet without decreasing milk production.

01.01.1970

Indian experts against founding of national biotech authority

Teething problems which may pose difficulties for the birth of the proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) have begun to surface. Experts have begun questioning the need for setting up of such an authority when existing regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), is already acting as a single-window clearance for genetically modified (GM) food products. ?We have been very swift in granting our process of approval. Since 2002, we have approved over 150 GM cotton hybrids, one transgenic cotton variety and five events. Our functioning has become more transparent following the orders of the Supreme Court. The GEAC meeting takes place every second Wednesday of the month and that of Review Committee on Genetic Manipilation (RCGM), every fourth Tuesday,? said a GEAC official.

01.01.1970

Kenya imports non-GE maize from Zambia

Kenya will import one million bags of maize from Zambia to boost its stock and avert a looming shortage in the second half of the year. [...] Ordinarily, Kenya imports between 60,000-75,000 tonnes of maize from the neighbouring states but inflows from Tanzania are expected to be limited by a curb on exports. South Africa is seen to be another vital source of imports but concern is rising over the country?s use of genetically modified seeds in its farms.

01.01.1970

European Commission?s Joint Research Centre produces the first large-scale study Bt maize production in Spain

The aim of the study is to obtain, for the first time, data on the agronomic and economic performance of Bt corn during three growing seasons (2002 ? 2004) [...] higher yields were statistically significant only for the province of Zaragoza (1,110 kg/hectare or 11,8%). [...] All things considered, the impact of Bt maize adoption on gross margin obtained by farmers in different provinces ranged from neutral to ?122 per hectare, per year. The reason most quoted by farmers in the survey for adopting Bt maize was ?lowering the risk of maize borer damage? followed by ?obtaining higher yields?.

01.01.1970

Malawi opens doors for GE crop field tests

Malawi has finally opened its doors to genetically mod ified crops (GMOs) despite fears still lingering among consumer rights groups. ?Yes, cabinet has approved the National Bio-technology and Bio-safety bill,? said Alec Manda, the acting Director of the National Research Council of Malawi. Manda said with the policy now in place Malawi can now start using products that are genetically modified. He said what remains now was for scientists to start field trial in testing genetically modified crops developed outside the country.

01.01.1970

USA 2008: GM cultivation at 60 million hectares

For farmers in the USA, genetically modified (GM) crops are a matter of course. In 2008, GM crops were cultivated on almost 60 million hectares. This represents a growth of ten per cent in comparison to 2007, as can be read in the cultivation statistics published on 30 June by the US-American Department of Agriculture. A significant expansion of GM lines has been observed for maize. The cultivation of GM types increased by seven percentage points and now represents 80 percent of all planted maize. Almost one half of GM maize used in 2008 displays combined resistance to insects and herbicides (due to the presence of ?stacked genes?).

01.01.1970

An impossible coexistence: Transgenic and organic maize in Spain

The cultivation of genetically modified maize has caused a drastic reduction in organic cultivation of this grain and is making their coexistence practically impossible. This is the main conclusion reached in one of the first field studies in Europe carried out by a researcher of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, who has analysed the situation in Catalonia and Aragon, Europe?s main producers of transgenic foods.

01.01.1970

GM will not solve current food crisis, says Syngenta chairman

Martin Taylor, chairman of Syngenta, said the current industry focus on farmers in rich countries meant it would take 20 years to launch crop varieties designed to address the problems of the developing world. He told the Guardian: ?GM won?t solve the food crisis, at least not in the short term.? His words appear to contradict statements from UK politicians, industry bodies and the European Commission that GM technology should be considered as a way to address chronic shortages and soaring prices of basic staples across the world.

01.01.1970

Genetically modified foods may be subject to provisional rules in Qatar

Qatar should impose provisional terms on the entrance of genetically modified food, said a senior official of the Supreme Council for Environment and Natural Reserve (SCENR). [...] Qatar, it may be recalled, has been working on a law to check the entry of GMOs into the country and make labelling of GM products mandatory, giving consumers the right to pick their choice of GM or non-GM products.

01.01.1970

New Bt cotton variety set to raise output in Kenya

Cotton farming is on its way to full recovery following the introduction of a new variety of the cash crop. [...] Hart 89M variety, also called called BT Cotton, was developed by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) at Mwea in Kirinyaga District through biotechnology. A crops officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Joseph Kiruthi on Sunday said the new variety has the potential to produce up to 2,500 kilogrammes of cotton under rain farming and up to 5,000 kilogrammes under irrigation farming per hectare. This is far above the 200 kilogrammes harvested by farmers in the year 2005/2006.

01.01.1970

Historic collaboration launched to provide Africa?s farmers technologies, roads and resources

Two of the world?s largest grant-making organizations in African agricultural development today joined forces in a plan to help African countries tackle poverty and hunger through smart, sustainable solutions to improve the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers and poor rural households.
The groundbreaking collaboration combines the strengths and expertise of the United States government?s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The plan was signed by the MCC?s CEO Ambassador John Danilovich and former Secretary-General of the United Nations and AGRA?s Chairman, Kofi A. Annan.

01.01.1970

Ugandan activists reject GE foodstuffs

UGANDA should not adopt genetically modified organisms without adequate technologies and regulatory means for their safe use, activists have said. They warned that the country could lose revenue from exporting natural (organic) agricultural products to the international market. According to the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, Uganda?s organic exports since 2003 have been constant at 38% with 45,000 certified organic farmers cultivating 185,000 hectares of land.

01.01.1970

Tanzanian MARI and ASARECA sign USD94,000 pact to develop GE virus-resistant cassava

The Dar es Salaam based Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI) and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA) have signed a USD94,000 research project agreement on cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and Cassava Brown Streak Virus (CBSD). Under the project, MARI will conduct a research on developing genetic modified cassava species that will be resistant to the diseases. MARI officer in-charge Dr Alois Kullaya and ASARECA?s Dr Charles Mugoya signed the pact on behalf of their respective institutions during a ceremony to launch Cassava Biotechnology Capacity Building project in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

01.01.1970

Opinion pieces from Kenya on GE crops and food

Mbaria?s frustration is that African countries - and the media - are ?coaxed and coerced... to extol (the GM) technology as the panacea for the continent?s hunger and low agricultural productivity.? He laments that ?almost all reports on the GMO initiatives either explicitly endorse them or end up reproducing without comment, the glowing positive picture painted by the GMO proponents.?

01.01.1970

Bt cotton and sheep death in India: did the GEAC tell the truth?

The Supreme Court nominee to the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), Dr. P.M. Bhargava, has called the bluff of the committee. [...] The GEAC had concluded that the death might have been due to high content of nitrates/nitrites, residues of hydrocyanide (HCN) and organophosphates, [...] However, Dr. Bhargava, had found the reports of the two institutes as also the State Government?s letter totally contradicting the GEAC?s version. For instance, the State Government?s letter to the GEAC had stated that the samples were ?negative for HCN, Nitrates, Nitrites, Alkaloids and Glycocide.?

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