BCFN Alumni Series: Charlotte Payne on Edible Insects and Food Security

Edible Insects

Charlotte Payne studies the environmental, health, and socio-economic impacts of using insects as food with the Department of Zoology at Cambridge and the Department of Population Health at Oxford. Working in collaboration with others at Rothamstead Research Institute and the University of Ouagadougou, Payne is developing methods to combat food insecurity in Burkina Faso through breeding a popular edible caterpillar species.

Bié - Czech Republic NGO Hands Over Cattle to Trumba Peasants

Farming

Forty-one heads of cattle were handed over Tuesday to the peasants in the villages of Trumba commune, 50 kilometers north of Cuito, cetral Bié province, by the Czech republic non-governmental organization People In Need (PIN), under the programme for livestock farming.

Preserving Indigenous Farming Knowledge and Practices

farmer

On the 2017 International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Ruth Oniang’o, Chair of the Sasakawa Africa Association, wins the Africa Food Prize

AFP winner Hon Prof Ruth

Hon Professor Ruth Oniang’o, Chair of the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) and Sasakawa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE), has been awarded the 2017 Africa Food Prize, in recognition of her role as a leading voice on nutrition in Africa.

Distribution of Expired Seeds, Inputs Will Affect Harvest - Farmers

Farmer

Women farmers in Bauchi State have raised concerns about the distribution of expired agricultural inputs that may hinder bumper harvest envisaged under the Anchor Borrowers Programme.

Food Institute Fellow Isabelle Moody: “Wasted food is also a food justice issue”

Wasted food

The George Washington University (GW) launched the Food Institute Student Fellowship to encourage GW students to research new aspects of the sustainable food movement and participate in local food work in Washington, D.C. Sustainability Collaborative Student Fellows conduct research on food justice and local agricultural systems, farm at the GroW Community Garden, and help plan GW’s Local Foods Impact Conference and Urban Agriculture Symposium.

Niger to Boost Poultry Farming With Mobile Kits

Poultry Farming

Niger State government is set to boost poultry production through the introduction of mobile kits. The mobile poultry is part of the youth empowerment scheme with agriculture entrepreneurship as the driving force.

Which Country is the Most Sustainable?

Sustainable

The Food Sustainability Index (FSI), developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation, ranks countries on food system sustainability based off of three pillars: food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture, and nutritional challenges.

Govt Goes for Indicative Prices in Farm-Input

Farm input

The government says it has suspended the issuance of agro-input vouchers in the next farming season. In its place, it will introduce a procedure, whereby it will place orders for agricultural inputs and set indicative prices that will reduce fertilizer costs by 30 per cent.

MicroGen Biotech: Tackling Pollutants in Soil

MicroGen Biotech

Irish biotech company MicroGen Biotech is developing products that use microbes—the broad range of single-celled organisms that are found all around us—to increase crop yield, improve food safety, and promote soil health. Using a platform technology called the “Constructed Functional Microbiome,” MicroGen aims to regenerate depleted or polluted agricultural land. This technology identifies a set of microbes that, once introduced into the soil, can reduce pollutants found in crops while improving yields and overall soil quality.