Gene-editing technologies represent a promising new tool for plant and animal breeding in low- and middle-income countries. They enhance precision and efficiency over current breeding methods and could lead to rapid development of improved plant varieties and animal breeds. However, as for any new technology, they have their merits and demerits.
This study probes assumptions which underpin current thinking about the transformation of Pakistan’s agrifood systems by identifying and examining key turning points from the 1840s onwards in sub-regions of the Indus irrigated plains.
El Niño is a phase in an irregular periodic variation in winds and sea surface temperatures over the Pacific Ocean. It occurs on average every 2 to 7 years and typically lasts between 9 months and 2 years. El Niño affects the global weather patterns, resulting in above-average precipitation in some places and droughts in others. Malawi and its neighbors typically experience drier than usual weather during El Niño, which often leads to poor growing conditions and below-average harvests.
We conducted a baseline survey to appraise the current potato practices and farming systems in the Adamawa
and West regions of Cameroon where a GIZ-funded project (ONE WORLD – No Hunger, or SEWOH) titled "Green
Innovation Centers for the Agricultural and Food Sector" (ProCISA) is being implemented. We employed a mix
of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather and analyze data/information. This study focused on potato
farmers that have been into potato production for at least two years.
Input subsidies are a popular redistributive policy measure in many developing countries to support climate change adaptation through yield stabilization and food security in a small-farm context. Nevertheless, the evidence of the effectiveness of the programs is mixed. One main point of critique is that these programs are vulnerable to political interference leading to misuse.
YouthMappers are using open geospatial tools in support of initiatives seeking to achieve SGD 2 Zero Hunger and SDG 1 No Poverty in Northern Ghana. Students and researchers designed survey questions and a field data collection workflow using simple but cost-effective technology to catalogue a database of farmers, properly demarcate farm sizes, and give farmers, in particular impoverished women, the opportunity to project farm yields and increase the efficiency of their output.
Do electoral considerations play a role in the targeting of humanitarian transfers? We analyze the targeting of direct cash and food transfers distributed in Malawi in response to an exceptionally poor harvest following a late and erratic rainy season of 2015-16. Combining household survey data on transfers with a remotely sensed measure of drought and with the results of the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections, we show that transfers were disproportionately targeted at marginal constituencies.
This study interviewed 349 poultry farmers that benefited from government poultry feed input palliatives meant
to help them to contain the negative effects of COVID-19 of hunger, food insecurity, and poverty. Demographic
results revealed that both males and females are involved in poultry farming; the average age of poultry farmers was 45 years, with an average family size of five. The average years of education were 13, equivalent
to JSS 3 in the Nigerian education system. Types of poultry show that 49% of the poultry farmers reared
Background: Conservation of plant genetic resources, including the wild relatives of crops, plays an important and well recognised role in addressing some of the key challenges faced by humanity and the planet including ending hunger and biodiversity loss. However, the genetic diversity and representativeness of ex situ collections, especially that contained in seed collections, is often unknown. This limits meaningful assessments against conservation targets, impairs targeting of future collecting and limits their use.
Zinc deficiency affects one third of the population worldwide, and vitamin A deficiency is a prevalent public health issue in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-Asia, including Nepal. Crop biofortification is the sustainable solution to these health—related problems, thus we conducted two different field trials in an alpha lattice design to identify zinc and provitamin A biofortified maize genotypes consistent and competitive in performance over the contrasting seasons (Season 1: 18 February to 6 July 2020 and Season 2: 31 August to 1 February, 2020/21).
On 16 October, scientists, politicians and world leaders gathered from around the world to celebrate World Food Day. Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the annual event urged global action to ‘start managing water wisely’ in the race for zero hunger. Stressing the connections between water and food production, this year’s World Food Day served as an important reminder that food and nutrition security can only be achieved with sufficient water of adequate quality, quantity, and reliability.