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The Kenyan government has identified 1,000 farmers who will receive the country’s first genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds. The farmers will begin cultivating the seeds, which have been improved with a Bt gene to provide inherent resistance to the devastating African bollworm pest, in commercial demonstration plots across Kenya this…

Though Uganda has some of the lowest agricultural productivity in the world, efforts to bring smallholder farmer groups into the seed production process are helping to reverse that dismal standing. In the process, some farming regions have been transformed from hungry, poverty-stricken outposts to vibrant communities. Currently, just 30 percent…

Cornell Alliance for Science Global Leadership Fellows have called on the World Bank to increase funding for science research as a sure way to address poverty and under development in Africa. They are also urging the bank to prioritize and increase investments in dealing with emerging challenges in agriculture, such…

The Philippine Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry has ruled that Golden Rice is “as safe as conventional rice.” The agency’s ruling marks a major step forward in the regulatory process for Golden Rice. The grain has been genetically engineered to help fight the health scourge of vitamin A deficiency…

Three young female leaders hope their Women Who Farm campaign will pave the way for the success of others across Africa.

In a bid to combat “hidden hunger,” an international research agency is developing rice varieties with higher levels of iron, zinc and beta-carotene. Healthier rice varieties have the potential to reach many people because rice is already widely grown and eaten, Dr. Russell Reinke, Healthier Rice Program Lead from the…

Massive investment is needed to bolster the livestock sector in developing countries, says Dr. Max Rothschild of the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University. Nearly 1.3 billion people are estimated to depend directly on livestock for their livelihoods, including 1 billion rural poor. Additionally, more than 3.5…

A group of 15 leading scientists in forest biotechnology research recently published a letter in the Science Magazine, calling on international forest certification programs to review and modify their standards that exclude genetically modified (GM) and gene-edited trees. Although the review won‘t take place until October, researchers believe it‘s…

Farmers who grow cereal crops in most African countries are all too familiar with the challenges presented by striga, a parasitic plant also known as witchweed that infests farmers’ fields and causes lower yields, or even no harvest at all. Now African scientists are breeding maize that can resist this…