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The global pandemic has made it difficult for some African seed companies to produce and import sufficient quantities of quality certified seeds, prompting fears about food security. A labor shortage, border closures and restrictions on movements have contributed to the challenges that some companies are facing as they struggle to…

The African continent, which is poised to see millions of workers enter the job market, is already experiencing massive youth unemployment and widespread reliance on precarious jobs, including those in agriculture. This is the time for smallholder farmers to embrace a new mindset and recognize that what used to work…

As consumers in the Global North complain about grocery stores stripped of staples, African nations are mobilizing to get basic food supplies to their most vulnerable citizens during the COVID-19 lockdown. Nigeria is distributing stocks from its National Grain Reserve, Uganda is handing out maize flour (posho) and beans and…

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…