Year: 2017
New tools help breeders fight emerging challenges in maize
Capacity development
Researchers from across the globe assembled in Nairobi for a 10-day training course on increasing genetic gains in maize by integrating novel technologies in breeding.
New online portal offers information to curb maize lethal necrosis in Africa
Innovations
The new maize lethal necrosis online portal provides up-to-date information and surveillance tools to help researchers control and stop the spread of the deadly disease.
Zero till climate-smart wheat-rice-bean crop rotations in India curb emissions
Innovations
Zero tillage with residue retention techniques in rice-wheat-mung bean crop rotations result in the lowest global warming potential, a study on sustainable intensification in India shows.
New funding focus on agricultural research key to achieve global development goals
Nutrition, health and food security
Food and agriculture have the potential to be major drivers in helping achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, but are currently underutilized, say experts.
Media highlight sustainable innovations in Pakistan during USAID tour
Nutrition, health and food security
Breaking Ground: Dagne Wegary at a busy intersection on the maize value chain
Nutrition, health and food security
As a maize seed system specialist, Dagne Wegary works at the nexus between breeding science and actual delivery of improved seed to farmers.
New Publications: Better post-harvest storage can raise vitamin A intake 25 percent in Zambia
Nutrition, health and food security
Recent modeling studies in Zambia suggest that provitamin A maize’s impact is being cut short by the low retention of carotenoids during storage and postharvest grain loss.
Zimbabwe steps up food security with vitamin A maize
Nutrition, health and food security
More farmers in Zimbabwe are demanding high-yielding, highly nutritious and drought tolerant provitamin A maize.
Breaking Ground: Mainassara Zaman-Allah uses remote sensing to expedite phenotyping
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Mainassara Zaman-Allah uses new technologies to speed up the collection of plant information for breeding.
New sustainable agriculture initiative targets India’s second most populous state
Climate adaptation and mitigation
A new project is bringing sustainable technologies and practices to one-thousand villages in Maharashtra, India.
Increased investment needed to adapt Africa’s agriculture to climate change
Nutrition, health and food security
Delegates at a conference in June called for a new focus and increase in investment to ensure eastern and southern Africa’s farming systems can withstand the impacts of climate change.
Farmers at center of sustainable agriculture in Kenya
Capacity development
Climate change’s impact in eastern and southern Africa has driven many farmers to seek new planting techniques that maintain or increase crop production, despite fewer resources.
New Publications: Climate change adaptation practices decrease poverty, boost food security
Climate adaptation and mitigation
Farmers in Pakistan that practice climate change adaptation strategies have higher food security levels and are less likely to live in poverty than those that don’t.