G7 foreign and development ministers named CGIAR as an example of a multilateral research institution critical to making food systems resilient and stable and transforming food systems. Under the famine prevention, humanitarian crises and food insecurity minutes of the official meeting communique, G7 ministers called for global enhancement of adaption efforts and committed to leveraging the power of national and
BY ANNA FABRY,KAAT VAN HOYWEGHEN, HENDRIK FEYAERTS,IDRISSA WADE AND MIET MAERTENS There has been much discussion on the resilience of different types of agrifood value chains during the COVID-19 pandemic. Good empirical evidence on this issue is limited because comparing value chains must account for variations in several factors (different commodities, different countries, etc.). The study by Anna Fabry and
Scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have been harnessing the power of drones and other remote sensing tools to accelerate crop improvement, monitor harmful crop pests and diseases, and automate the detection of land boundaries for farmers. A crucial step in crop improvement is phenotyping, which traditionally involves breeders walking through plots and visually assessing each
Nafees Meah and Sheetal Sharma Global food production is required to increase between 50–70% by 2050 driven by population growth,, income growth, and change in diets. However, global warming is already having a profound effect on food production around the world and in the global south in particular. With warmer temperatures have come increased frequency of droughts and floods,
Rice is a staple food and provides 20% of the daily calorie needs of more than half of the population worldwide. With the looming increase in population projected to reach about 8.5 billion people by 2030, how can we feed the world sustainably? In 1973, Dr. Yuan Longping successfully cultivated the first high-yielding hybrid rice strain after almost a decade
BY JEMIMAH NJUKI, HAZEL MALAPIT, SARAH EISSLER AND JESSICA WALLACH A large volume of research has been produced in the last few decades on the roles that women play in food systems, the constraints they face, and how they can play a key role in agricultural transformation. There is evidence that achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems
Micronutrient malnutrition is a major public health problem in Zimbabwe: One in four children between six months to five years is stunted and 19% suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) — the leading cause of preventable blindness in children. VAD can impair human growth and development and increase a child’s vulnerability to illness. VAD is also a common problem among women of childbearing… The post Biofortified sweetpotato making
The United Nations International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May reminds us that “When biodiversity has a problem, humanity has a problem”. We rely on a wide genetic diversity of animals, plants and microorganisms to nourish and protect us – and we degrade this rich resource base at our peril. Agriculture remains the largest threat to biodiversity. The expansion